Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject that offers unique opportunities for children to enhance their motor skills to actively engage in sports and physical activities (PA) during elementary (grades 1–6, students aged 5–12) and secondary school (grades 7–12, students aged 12–18) in many countries (1–5). Students' skill development is affected by curricular reasons, which would influence their performance during PE at school (6). Previous works examined student skill performance by conducting comprehensive and correct skill trials in PE classes (7, 8). Several studies have demonstrated that PE plays a vital role in the development of physical capability and movement-based competency (4, 9, 10). This enables children to participate in a wide range of PA and sports. Moreover, high-quality PE and sports programs can also contribute to students’ health and well-being and may significantly and positively impact their academic performance and engagement at school (11–15).

Schools are widely acknowledged as important for promoting PA and fitness in children and adolescents by offering opportunities to be active during and outside school hours (16, 17). However, numerous factors, including those related to the school institutions themselves but also teacher-related factors, have been shown to impact the quality of school PE programs adversely (18). For example, institutional barriers to delivering quality PE include insufficient equipment and facilities, a limited budget, negative attitudes toward PE among school executives, and inadequate professional development (19). Moreover, there are issues such as inadequate financial investment and funding support for PE, the lack of a knowledge base and high-quality teacher training programs, and decreasing school time devoted to PE (20, 21). In light of this, these issues would have a negative impact on both the effective and successful delivery of PE programs in schooling. Previous research has explored how PE instructors in schools approach instructional communication using a mixed methods approach, highlighting its significance as a fundamental aspect of teaching behaviour (22, 23).

PE is a compulsory course for all Chinese students from primary school to college (24, 25). In general, teachers with a degree in PE will be specifically recruited to teach the subject. In China, elementary school students take approximately four PE classes every week, with each class being 35–45 min long (26). The elementary PE course is aimed at developing students' athletic abilities and increasing their participation in sports. It is also important for mental and physical health, as well as social adaptability. In addition, the National Curriculum in PE offered PE teaching guidelines in 2011, including course goals and the learning evaluation system. Nonetheless, the PE activities and academic approaches used in each class are decided by teachers and schools according to the schools' actual circumstances (27). Furthermore, the Chinese government has been criticized for exclusively distributing the funds for Ti Yu (the umbrella term for anything sports-related) to elite sports competitions rather than to PE in schools (28).

In China, an administrative region with a population density greater than 1,500 people/km² is considered an urban area, and its administration system is composed of town government, district government, and municipal government (29). Rural areas usually include villages and market towns, and the population is generally below 3,000 (30). In recent years, the gap between urban and rural China in terms of quality education and access to resources has become more pronounced. One of the most striking manifestations is the imbalance in PE. Tian et al. (31) found that when compared to rural areas, schools located in urban areas have significantly more funding, enabling them to build well-equipped sports facilities, employ specialist PE teachers, and provide a variety of extracurricular activities for students (including abundant opportunities for students to participate in physical activities and sport). Furthermore, Basch (32) highlighted that in rural areas where there are limited resources, schools are more likely to focus on academic subjects and pay PE teachers less, leading to the weakening of the status of PE. Consequently, urban students are more likely to explore sports opportunities outside school, such as joining clubs or signing up for private courses (32); and specialist PE teachers prefer to work in urban schools (33)—strengthening the divide between the delivery of PE in urban and rural areas in China (31).

Aligning with self-determination theory (SDT) and in the context of PE lessons, autonomous motivation can be enhanced when teachers provide students with choice, variety, and opportunities to contribute to lessons (34). According to SDT controlled motivation occupies an intermediate position on the motivation continuum and involves actions driven by rewards, fear of punishment, or avoidance of guilt (35). Controlled motivation and amotivation manifest when students engage in PE activities solely for rewards or due to external coercion. Previous research has demonstrated that controlled motivation and amotivation have been associated with negative outcomes for students, including reduced self-esteem, forgetting PE kits, and absenteeism from classes (36, 37).

Aligning with SDT, PE teachers can engage students in their lessons by inquiring about their interest in various sports and granting them the autonomy to select learning activities for specific lessons. Furthermore, teachers can provide guidance during students' participation in learning activities, offering a foundation to develop competence and overcome challenges. Encouraging teams to build and foster communication between teachers and students also facilitates a sense of belonging and connection among individual students. Similarly, the benefits of participating in quality PE include improved well-being, knowledge, performance, and persistence. This suggests that students respond well to their teachers' automatic support, with higher levels of stimulation and better PE achievements (35). In addition, previous studies have suggested that teachers' high self-confidence usually leads to diversified teaching strategies, which, in turn, helps students develop greater self-discipline and abilities, and the likelihood of successfully meeting learning outcomes in PE (38, 39).

Supporting the association between PE teacher characteristics and the physical education of Chinese primary school students, an observational study conducted by Zhou et al. (27) indicated that elementary students fell short of China's recommended 50% moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) level, and teaching experience and teacher gender play important roles in MVPA time during PE. However, a range of other factors, such as PE lesson structure, class size, school location, and teacher and student self-perceptions, are commonly associated with and may influence PE quality. Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to observe and evaluate the teaching practices of teachers delivering PE in primary schools. The secondary aim of this study was to identify if there are any associations between teaching practices and behaviours, teachers' perceived confidence, competence, and self-efficacy, and student-level outcomes (i.e., enjoyment, motivation, well-being, and physical self-perception).

After checking the normality of the data, it can be found that the data follows a normal distribution. Characteristics of the study sample are provided in Table 3. In total, 623 children participated, 26 of whom did not provide valid responses or missing data (597, 95.8% response rate; 45.9% female, mean age = 10.5 ± 1.7); along with 16 full-time PE teachers (9 males, 56%; 7 females, 44%; mean age years = 31.6 ± 5.0; mean years teaching experiencing = 9.0 ± 2.3). There were approximately 640 min, a total of 16 PE lessons video footage used in the analysis.

The current study investigates the teaching practices of teachers delivering PE in Chinese primary schools and explores factors associated with teaching behaviors and student outcomes. We found that the predominant pedagogy of PE classes in Chinese primary schools was the delivery of training-form (skill-focused) activities and instructional time. Additionally, school location, class size, and teacher experience were significantly associated with teaching behaviours and student outcomes.

In response to our first aim, the majority of observed PE lesson time was spent in training-form activities (60.2%), followed by instructional time (33.1%). These results are in line with previous research, demonstrating that the majority of PE time spent in Chinese schools is devoted to the development of student motor abilities via repetitive practice, and PE teachers emphasize the role of training these skills in elementary schools (27, 64). Furthermore, our results show that children in China spend a large portion of PE lessons sedentary whilst PE teachers offer instruction, explanation, or feedback, as well as class administration and regulation. These findings are also supported by previous studies, whereby elementary school PE lesson time is largely spent on behavioral management and regulation (65, 66). Our findings demonstrate that teaching practices today have changed very little, and align with traditional delivery techniques used in early Chinese PE classes (in the 1904s) which were military-oriented (28). Skill-drill-type activities and quiet, obedient classes are expected within PE lessons in China (e.g., students talking to one another is forbidden, and they must stand in a line for most of PE class time (27). Therefore, teachers spend a significant amount of PE lesson time in practising skill techniques in highly structured and organized repetitive practice.

Furthermore, our findings show that school location plays an important role as a contextual variable impacting lesson delivery (67). Through our observation and assessment of PE lessons, urban PE provided more frequent positive comments and fewer negative hustle comments (e.g., sarcasm, frustration without reason, scolding) than teachers from rural areas. This result was consistent with earlier research (68), indicating that physical educators' judgments concerning curriculum and teaching are frequently different by school location. On the contrary, a study by Liu and Silverman (69) showed that, unlike physical educators in city areas, rural-based PE teachers were more likely to face obedient students who sat quietly, listened to the teacher, followed directions, and worked cooperatively with others. This may also explain why PE teachers' instructions in rural schools were less frequent than in urban areas in PE lessons. On the other hand, the present study also found that teachers perceived teaching confidence, competence, and self-efficacy in urban was significantly higher than in rural regions. This finding is supported by an earlier study, whereby teachers from urban schools in developed areas enjoyed a higher self-efficacy level compared with rural areas (70). Furthermore, economic factors may also contribute to the unequal investment in educational resources in urban and rural areas. For example, in China, less than two-fifths of the annual budget is allocated to the development of primary and secondary education; however, compared with rural primary schools, urban primary schools tend to receive most of the financial expenditure (71). In addition to PE development being affected by school location (urban vs. rural areas), community sports and club sports are also affected. Because the level of economic development and public funding in urban areas is generally higher, better sports infrastructure, such as orderly stadiums and well-maintained sports facilities, is tilted towards cities. These basic configurations not only represent opportunities for urban athletes to succeed but also attract more qualified coaches and trainers.

A positive association between class size and the frequency of negative feedback was found in this study. Although review-level evidence and experimental study indicated that class size might not have a significant impact on student's academic performance (72, 73). However, this finding contradicts Liu and Silverman (2006) (74) findings, who previously investigated the impact of different class sizes on teaching styles, primarily focusing on primary school students (aged 7–11). According to Blatchford's findings, students in smaller classes are more likely to receive individualized attention from teachers and an increased likelihood of receiving positive feedback (potentially raising the quality of the learning experience) (75). Similarly, it has been found by Chapman and Ludlow (76) that class size has a negative correlation with teachers using positive feedback during the classes, student performance, and learning interest. Potentially, as class sizes grow, a teacher's capacity to inspire each student to think and explore is diminished, because communication and interaction between teachers and students are reduced (77). More importantly, a past work conducted in Chinese background, implied that class size has a non-linear relationship with the improvement of student performance, and the best range of marginal benefits to measure the impact of class size on student performance is 21–30 students/class (78). This could be explained by the positive relationship between smaller class sizes and improving student confidence is mainly due to the increased personal attention of teachers and the increased feasibility of more personalized learning programs. As above mentioned, in small-class teaching, teachers have more opportunities to notice the changes or progress of students and are more likely to provide timely feedback based on finding out the strengths and weaknesses of students. This personalized approach not only shapes stronger teacher-student relationships but also creates an environment where students feel supported. Few systematic observations have been conducted to explore the difference between rural and urban students in PE. In one cross-sectional study involving 177 rural and 431 urban students, differences in location were associated with the basic psychological needs of children in PE classes (79). Specifically, Liu et al. (79) found that the autonomy, motivation, and enjoyment levels of urban students were significantly higher than that of rural students. It is possible that students in large cities have access to a wide range of sporting opportunities, whereas, in rural areas, PE is less appealing and restrictive (e.g., insufficient types of equipment to access sports). This may result in a lack of teacher-student interaction, which may lower students' interest in PE. Class size can also affect students' motivation, well-being, enjoyment, self-perception, and other factors during PE, in addition to geographical disparities. Prior research has identified that with the increase in class size, teachers' time for class management increased significantly (80). To illustrate, in primary school classes with less than 20 students, classroom management takes up 19.5% of classroom time, while in classes with 60 students, this figure rises sharply to 28.2% (81). This evidence supports the recommendation from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) in America to ensure the teacher-student ratio is below 25 students per teacher.

In terms of teaching experience, results from the current study indicated that PE teachers with over 10 years of teaching experience had significantly more positive self-perceptions (confidence, competence, and self-efficacy) than teachers with 1–5 years and 6–10 years of teaching. Our results are consistent with several studies that suggested teaching experience might boost instructors' expertise, confidence, and effectiveness in delivering PE courses and teachers (18, 82, 83). This can be interpreted as teaching experience may improve teachers' efficiency in managing PE lessons and thus teaching confidence. In addition, rich teaching experience can also help interpret students' learning, provide feedback based on student performance, guide students to acquire new information, and help them seek alternative solutions when they encounter obstacles, studies have shown that more experienced teachers are more effective, frequent use of a student-centered approach (84).

The MASTER Framework was designed by Eather, Jones, et al. (2020) (42), to help sports coaches and PE teachers create a positive learning environment and facilitate the effective delivery of sports and PE by using a games-based approach. Results from the MASTER Checklist assessment demonstrated that the MASTER principles that were most poorly taught were “Thinking Players”, and “Engagement”, which rated only 1.4 and 1.5 out of a possible 5 respectively. “Thinking Players” refers to the teacher involving children in cognitive challenges via questioning to facilitate learning and learning activities that promote decision-making and creativity. Engagement refers to the teacher having a “presence” (e.g., voice projection, energy, humour), and using varied, challenging, relevant, and enjoyable learning activities. Previous studies highlighted that establishing game-related exploratory learning activities or employing game-based approaches that cater to individual complexities and dynamic learning environments is recommended for facilitating high-quality learning in children and adults at varying levels of physical activity (85, 86). Given that Chinese primary school PE classes have, a large focus on explicit instruction of traditional linear activities (skill drills) via traditional pedagogical practice, the application of game-based approaches in Chinese schools may help to increase children's learning, motivation, engagement, and success in PE.

Our study found that teachers dedicated a large proportion of lesson time to PE delivering training-form activities, followed by instructional time. Teaching behaviour and student outcomes were associated with location and class size, but not gender. The present study contributes to our understanding of the delivery of PE in Chinese primary schools and provides preliminary evidence to inform future PE interventions, policies, and practices.

Given these findings, our study recommends several possible suggestions for forming an effective professional development program for PE teachers and the responsibility of the government in addressing the gap between urban and rural quality sports in China. There is a need for effective game-based approach (GBA) professional learning for both pre-service and in-service teachers. The research results suggest that a significant portion of PE class time is devoted to training-form activities, indicating a prevalent preference for a skills-oriented approach among in-service teachers in China (despite the evidence to support the benefits of GBA in PE and sport delivery) (87). To enhance teachers' understanding of GBA, it is suggested that the professional learning programs incorporate a range of essential tactical knowledge, instruction on game creation and modification, and increased demonstrations of GBA teaching. Besides, Other educational goals, such as motor, cognitive, and social development of PE classes, should be measured/evaluated in future studies to determine how teaching behavior is related to these outcomes. Finally, the government should be able to increase the basic salary of rural physical education teachers and provide subsidies to remote and economically disadvantaged areas.