MAO Zhen-ming, CHEN Shuai, CHEN Lu, TAO Tao, ZHA Ping
In response to the longstanding issue wherein students fail to proficiently master sports skills despite attending physical education classes for 12 years, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council explicitly proposed the reform initiative of “effective teaching, diligent practice, and regular competition” in the Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening and Improving School Physical Education in the New Era. This concept was further established as a core curriculum philosophy by the Physical Education and Health Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 Edition). The introduction of “regular competition” is conducive to promoting scientific curriculum development, driving teaching model reform, enhancing instructional quality, facilitating the integration of moral education and curriculum-based ideological and political education, and fostering the professional development of physical education teachers. The theoretical underpinnings of “regular competition”, rooted in game theory and pedagogical theory, involve several dimensions: the relationship between sports and competition, the integration of teaching and competition, strategic selection between learning-first and competition-first approaches, diversified regular competition forms for various sports, the variety of teaching competitions, and intrinsic links between games and competitions. Drawing extensively from international experiences, particularly the Sport Education Model (SEM) and the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach, this study systematically analyzed and deeply discussed the theoretical foundations, educational significance, organizational forms, and specific implementation strategies of “regular competition”.