Abstract:

As an important attempt and effective measure to promote the integration of sports and education, the cultivation model for students with PE specialty in regular high schools has achieved notable results and has attracted increasing attention from various sectors of society. However, many teachers and parents have expressed concerns and doubts about the mixed teaching of students with PE specialty and regular students. Based on survey data from a province in central China in 2022, this study employs threshold regression models and other methods to examine the impact of the proportion of students with PE specialty in a class on high school students’ academic performance. The findings show that there is a pronounced inverted U-shaped relationship between the proportion of students with PE specialty in a class and students’ academic performance. An appropriate and small proportion of students with PE specialty, specifically when the class proportion is no more than 7.32%, does not have a significant negative impact on their classmates’ academic performance. On the contrary, it can contribute to students’ academic development by helping relieve academic pressure and improve physical health. However, when the proportion of students with PE specialty in a class is excessively high, the negative peer effects from these students become evident and dominant, thereby affecting their classmates’ academic development. Further heterogeneity analysis indicates that in city-level high schools, the positive effect of students with PE specialty is no longer significant, the number of students with PE specialty that a class can accommodate is relatively smaller, and the negative effect of having too many peers with PE specialty is more pronounced than in county-level high schools. Accordingly, the proportion of students with PE specialty in a class should be reasonably allocated, positive interactions between students with PE specialty and regular students should be strengthened, and the distinctive resource value of students with PE specialty should be fully activated so as to promote the healthy development of both groups.

Key words: integration of sports and education, students with PE specialty, peer effects, threshold regression, academic performance