1. Research Goals and Methods

■ Research Background and Goals

￮ The recent decline in physical activity among youth has adversely affected student health and weakened the foundation for community sports participation.

￮ Against this backdrop, school sports clubs have emerged as a key policy tool to promote physical activity and sports participation among youth.

￮ However, several structural limitations arise in practice, including a shortage of qualified instructors, limited program diversity, constraints in facility utilization, and poor integration with community sports resources.

￮ In particular, regional disparities in sports environments and school-level operational differences significantly hinder the promotion of school sports clubs.

￮ This study assesses the current operational conditions and challenges of school sports clubs based on domestic and international policy examples and expert insights. The findings serve to guide policy recommendations.

■ Research Scope and Methods

￮ This study examines patterns of school sports club participation across Jeonbuk State from 2022 to 2025, encompassing (1) an analysis of operational conditions to identify structural characteristics and challenges; (2) a review of prior studies and policy documents to determine key issues; (3) a comparative analysis of domestic and international school sports club cases to derive key features and implications of school–community operational models; and (4) expert-based Delphi and Analytic Hierarchy Process analyses of key drivers and priorities for promoting school sports clubs.

2. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations

■ Key Findings

￮ Despite a partially established institutional foundation for expanding student participation in physical activity, participation levels and program delivery vary across schools depending on operational conditions.

￮ Policy and case analyses highlight the need for 1) a collaborative governance structure that links school-based systems with regional sports resources and ensures vertical articulation across school levels, and 2) the redesign of the sports curriculum to facilitate interaction between student-athletes and general students and to integrate academic learning with athletic training.

￮ The Delphi analysis underscores that promoting school sports clubs requires a coordinated and comprehensive approach: expanding student-centered programs, strengthening instructional capacity, establishing regional collaboration mechanisms, and reinforcing policy support.

■ Policy Recommendations

￮ First, the currently fragmented structure of school sports policy should be reorganized around school sports clubs to establish a coherent and sustainable system. In addition, a collaborative framework should be developed to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders across school–community sports cooperation centers and school sports clubs.

￮ Second, effective policy implementation requires a clearly structured governance framework in which the provincial government acts as the architect of the sports ecosystem, the provincial office of education spearheads policy execution, sports councils serve as intermediary implementing bodies linking community and school sports policies, and sport-specific federations ensure technical expertise and program diversification as policy actors.

￮ Third, advancing school sports club policies necessitates an integrated approach that incorporates shared policy goals and performance indicators, a joint financing structure, standardized school–community operational frameworks, and a regional collaborative governance system that includes the provincial office of education, local governments, sports councils, sport-specific federations, and schools.

￮ Fourth, a phased policy roadmap is proposed: legal and institutional reforms (Year 1); establishment of a dedicated agency (Year 2); development of an operational platform (Year 3); scaling of regional linkages (Year 4); and expansion of regional governance (Year 5 and beyond). 

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