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Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

1-14-2026

Abstract

Based on the Healthy China 2030 and Education Equity Strategy, physical education for disadvantaged groups faces both institutional and cultural constraints. This study reveals that the interaction between policy blindness and cultural exclusion leads to resource imbalance and opportunity deprivation. Based on Sen's theory of equality of ability and Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital, the study systematically deconstruct the neglect of group differences in policy design and the implicit exclusion mechanism in social concepts (e.g. The study attempted to fill the gap between the ‘disability = low motor ability’ stereotype in the existing literature and the ‘disability = low motor ability’ stereotype in the social concepts.) The study attempts to fill the gap of ‘institutional-cultural’ analysis in the existing literature and to help achieve the goal of inclusive physical education. This paper adopts a mixed research method, consisting of policy text analysis (central and local policies from 2015-2023) and fieldwork (20 in-depth interviews, 10 hours of participant observation, and case profiling). 1) Insufficient institutional coverage and implementation bias. Analysis of policy texts shows that only 12 percent of central-level physical education policies for 2015-2023 explicitly mention that adapted physical education programs are not mandatory for disadvantaged groups such as students with disabilities and migrant children, and 73 percent of local supporting policies lack actionable details on resource allocation. 2) Conceptualization and behavioral discrimination. In-depth interviews revealed that 67% of teachers believe that ‘students with disabilities are at risk of participating in regular sports activities’, and thus tacitly allow them to ‘stand by’ or only arrange low-intensity activities, and that migrant children are implicitly excluded from group programs. As a result, migrant children were implicitly excluded from group programs, and the probability of migrant children being selected for core roles was less than 10 percent. 3) The reciprocal reinforcing effect of the double dilemma: policy neglect leads to teacher incompetence, further entrenching the prejudice that ‘disability = low motor ability’; and cultural exclusion, in turn, weakens the impetus for policy implementation. Physical education for disadvantaged groups is constrained by both policy blindness (insufficient coverage and lack of implementation) and cultural exclusion (discrimination against disabled and migrant children) and requires concerted reform and AI empowerment to support the goals of Healthy China and UNESCO and to guard against implementation bias.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/ijpah.5.1.206.boisestate

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