A Survey Study on the Characteristics and Mechanisms of Imbalances in the Career Development of Physical Education Teachers in Guangdong Universities

Abstract

To clarify the existing issues in the career development of physical education teachers in Guangdong’s higher education institutions, address the challenges of professional imbalance, and promote the high-quality development of physical education in higher education, this study employed questionnaire surveys, mathematical statistics, interviews, and literature review. With a sample of 426 active physical education teachers from 68 undergraduate and vocational colleges in Guangdong, the study systematically investigated the core characteristics and underlying mechanisms of their career development imbalances.The study found that physical education teachers in Guangdong’s higher education institutions exhibit five major characteristics of imbalance: a polarized professional title structure, an imbalance in the allocation of time and energy between teaching and research, a narrow scope of competency development, insufficient alignment between compensation and incentives, and significant regional development disparities.These imbalances are driven by the interplay of four factors: individual, institutional, systemic, and regional environments. The intertwining of individual cognitive biases regarding career development, the utilitarian nature of institutional evaluation systems, inadequate institutional safeguards within the sector, and uneven regional resource allocation collectively constrain the long-term professional development of teachers. Based on these findings, this study proposes optimization pathways from a multidimensional and collaborative perspective, providing empirical references and theoretical support for the development of the physical education faculty and the reform of physical education in Guangdong’s higher education institutions.