Special sports training majors do not belong to the sports category

Judging from the identification standards of the "Undergraduate Major Catalog of General Colleges and Universities" officially issued by the Ministry of Education, the special sports training major clearly belongs to the category of physical education and is a state-controlled second-level major in physical education under the education category. The professional code is 040202K. This is an official conclusion without any controversy. This logic applies not only to undergraduates, but also to sports training majors at the junior college level, which also belong to the sports category under the education and sports category in the "Catalogue of Vocational Education Majors", and the classification is completely unified.

A while ago, I helped a senior high school kid who was practicing 100-meter to fill out his application form. His parents chased me and asked me three times: "Is this major really about sports?" Isn’t it some art special recruitment or special major? Will I be stuck in a major category when I take the public examination in the future? ”Don't tell me, there are so many people who have this question, and even many students who have studied sports training for two years can't figure out where they belong.

Interestingly, even if the official conclusion is clearly stated there, this issue is still brought up for discussion from time to time, and two completely different logics of identification have even been formed. One is the "rules school" that is completely anchored in the official catalog. No matter what the enrollment path is, as long as the majors are listed under the physical education category, they are all included in the physical education category. This is also the current national and provincial civil servant examinations, as well as the general recognition standard for recruitment by most public institutions and enterprises. The other type is the "narrow-caliber group" based on practical needs. Some recruitment units who are not familiar with the physical education major will default to the physical education category as "physical education majors enrolled in the general college entrance examination." When they see that sports training is a single-enrollment, they take it for granted and classify it as a "special enrollment category." They even use "not having systematically studied educational psychology" as an excuse to deny eligibility. Although this situation is not common, it does happen.

Last year, I came across complaints from a physical education student in Shandong. She was admitted to be a physical education teacher in local primary and secondary schools, but her qualifications were rejected for the first time. The reason was that "athletic training is not a major related to physical education." The girl directly printed out the 2020 version of the Ministry of Education's professional catalog and photographed it at the qualifications window. The staff checked the codes for a long time before giving her a review, which is quite outrageous.

Why is there such a cognitive gap? To put it bluntly, the enrollment path for sports training is too special, and it is completely different from the physical education that everyone is familiar with. Physical education is in the general college entrance examination batch. You must first pass the province's unified physical education examination, and then compete for cultural points. Admissions are based on comprehensive points. The admission logic is similar to that of other ordinary majors. ； However, sports training is a separate enrollment. Applicants are required to have at least a second-level athlete certificate or above. They first take a special skill test, and then take the national unified cultural examination for single sports. The admission standards are also more specialized. Many people who do not understand the sports enrollment system will subconsciously think that it is a "side branch" and not a serious sports category.

In our circle, several undergraduate majors in physical education are often compared to children born to the same parents: physical education is raised according to the normal route since childhood, and most graduates go to become teachers.； Social sports guidance and management are the second-in-commands who love to run away. They spend time in communities and gyms doing mass sports every day. ； Sports training is the third child who has been in the training field since childhood. He has outstanding special abilities. After graduation, he either works as a coach for a professional team or as a special instructor in a commercial club. Many of them switch to sports event operations. They are all from a sports background. How can he deny it?

In the five or six years I have been doing sports education consulting, I have encountered similar questions not only 20 times but also 15 times. In 90% of the cases, the problem can be solved by removing the official professional catalog. The remaining 10% are basically caused by individual units' own recruitment rules that have added additional restrictions to the physical education category, such as "normal physical education majors" and "teaching qualification certificates are required." This is an artificial threshold, not a problem that the major itself does not belong to the physical education category.

If in the future you or someone around you encounters someone who insists on this issue, don’t panic. Just take a photo of the Ministry of Education’s professional catalog and show it to them. If you encounter someone who insists on being stuck, it’s not your major’s problem, it’s the other party’s identification standards that have not kept up with the official requirements.