A few days ago, Jiang Qingguo, deputy director of the Youth Department of the State General Administration of Sports, said at a press conference on the prevention and control of myopia in adolescents that under the background of "double reduction", the State General Administration of Sport will explore outstanding retired athletes to work as part-time physical education teachers in schools. This statement quickly aroused widespread concern from all walks of life.
During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the number of physical education teachers in the compulsory education stage of the country continued to grow, but in the context of the continuous development of the "double reduction" policy, the continuous acceleration of the process of physical education being included in the middle school entrance examination, and the concept of "one hour of campus sports activities per day" deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the supply of physical education teachers is still facing a huge gap, and even the situation of "2600 students are only equipped with 2 physical education teachers". On the other hand, the export problem of outstanding retired athletes also needs to be solved urgently. According to the statistics of the State General Administration of Sports, there are about 50,000 professional athletes registered in China, and about 3,000 to 4,000 athletes retire every year.
In accordance with the requirements of the "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education and Promoting the Healthy Development of Adolescents", the State General Administration of Sport actively explores new paths for outstanding retired athletes to serve as part-time physical education teachers in schools, to meet the two-way needs of sports and education, and to further deepen the integration of sports and education.
Many media quickly followed. "Nanfang Daily" wrote an article pointing out that to deepen the integration of sports and education, it is necessary to break the traditional test-taking education, let the physical education classroom "live", vigorously promote the process of cultural people and sports people, and effectively give play to the comprehensive function of sports in personnel training. "Guangming Daily" wrote that exploring measures such as outstanding retired athletes to work part-time as physical education teachers in schools is nothing less than a "timely rain" to alleviate the current shortage of physical education teachers in various places.
Many athletes also strongly welcome this policy. Wang Han, gold medalist in the women's doubles 3m board at the Tokyo Olympics, said: "This is a good policy that solves the worries of athletes and strengthens our courage and confidence to continue to win glory for our country. Whether it is an Olympic champion or other athletes, after retirement, they will inevitably face the problem of career transformation, if they can open up the channel to the school to work part-time as a physical education teacher, it will definitely do a good thing and a practical thing for athletes, providing us with more choices. Chen Yibing, a former Olympic champion who has successfully transformed into a university teacher, also said that this policy is a great encouragement to athletes, and I believe that more outstanding athletes will join the ranks of physical education teachers to make greater contributions to the healthy growth of young people and the integration of sports and education.
In recent years, the pace of integration of sports and education has been further accelerated, and a series of heavy documents and policies such as "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education and Promoting the Healthy Development of Adolescents" have been introduced, which have pointed out the direction for the development of China's youth sports cause at present and for some time to come. In addition to the documents and policies outlined, the real moves and practical moves to promote the integration of sports and education from deployment to implementation are also emerging, and exploring outstanding retired athletes to work as part-time physical education teachers in schools is a typical example.
In this regard, Sichuan has made useful explorations. In April 2021, on the basis of in-depth research, extensive listening to the opinions of all parties, and holding expert demonstration meetings, the Sichuan Provincial Sports Bureau and other four departments took the lead in issuing the "Notice on Effectively Doing a Good Job in the Work Related to Retired Athletes of Outstanding Sports Teams in Our Province as School Sports Coaches", which clarified the matters related to retired athletes of outstanding sports teams as school sports coaches from the aspects of scope of application, post setting, job responsibilities, employment conditions, and establishment and use.
At present, a total of 344 schools in Sichuan Province provide 372 sports coach positions, as of September 5, 102 outstanding retired athletes have signed the "Employment Intention Agreement" with 29 schools in 12 cities (prefectures) and the Tianfu New District Physical Education Teacher Sharing Center, including many "star teachers" such as Jiang Wenwen and Jiang Tingting, the world champion of synchronized swimming. "My teacher is the champion" has become the proudest thing for many Sichuan children.
It is reported that in the "Opinions on Deepening the Integration of Sports and Education and Promoting the Healthy Development of Adolescents", there are many such real moves and real moves, such as supporting social forces to enter schools, promoting the opening of public sports venues to students for free or low fees, jointly building high-level sports teams in colleges and universities, and encouraging the development of youth sports clubs. In the next step, the State General Administration of Sport will also focus on launching a number of typical areas and typical units for the integration of sports and education, demonstrating and promoting them nationwide, further deepening the integration of sports and education, and the sports department will also promote the reform of sports schools, establish youth sports training centers, and organize and guide the healthy and orderly development of youth sports clubs. It is believed that with the joint efforts of all parties, the integration of sports and education will be able to go deep and solid, so that young people can enjoy fun in physical exercise, enhance their physique, improve their personality, temper their will, and carry the hope of the country and the nation.
Source: China Sports News