Analysis of Physical Education Textbooks in Vocational Schools from the Perspective of Employment-Oriented Competencies

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of analyzing the physical education textbooks in the technical and vocational branch from the perspective of employment-oriented competencies. The research method was a mixed qualitative–quantitative content analysis, and the statistical population included all 8 specialized textbooks in the field of physical education for grades 10, 11, and 12 (academic year 2024–2025), which were selected through a census. Data were collected using a researcher-made checklist consisting of four main components (technical, soft, managerial, and professional skills) and 42 indicators, designed based on the National Standard of Sports Skills, the ESCO framework, and prior research, and validated by five experts. To ensure reliability, the recoding method was employed, resulting in α = 0.86. Shannon entropy was used for data analysis. The analysis of 5,823 meaning units extracted from the 8 specialized physical education textbooks revealed that 53.5% of the content was devoted to technical skills, 23.5% to soft skills, 16.3% to managerial skills, and only 6.7% to professional attitudes. Shannon entropy analysis assessed the diversity and concentration of content across components, showing that the greatest heterogeneity was observed in soft skills, while professional attitudes displayed the least diversity. Additionally, the calculation of the weight of importance of the components indicated a relatively balanced distribution of importance among technical, managerial, and soft skills, whereas professional attitudes had less importance. These results demonstrate that the textbooks primarily emphasize technical skills, while professional attitudes are less represented. Such findings can provide guidance for balancing educational content to better meet the needs of the sports industry labor market.