Theoretical Construction, Realistic Problems and Practical Strategies of School Integration for Retired Athletes in China Under the Background of Sports-Education Integration

Under the background of the integration of sports and education, the entry of retired athletes into schools is of great significance for optimizing the allocation of school physical education teachers and promoting the high-quality development of school sports. The concept of school integration for retired athletes was introduced in the study. Based on identity theory and field theory, the study constructed a theoretical framework of "teacher role integration (role competence) – school community integration (community embeddedness) – educator identity integration (identity reconstruction)" with thematic analysis. The study believes that the three dimensions are mutually reinforcing, forming an integration mechanism of "behavior grounding networks relationships → relationships catalyzing meaning identification → identity driving the upgrading of behaviors and relationships", which jointly facilitates the school integration process of retired athletes. The study identifies three key challenges in the process of retired athletes' integration into schools: the logical contradiction between the competitive sports field and the educational field, the adaptation dilemma between closed networks and pluralistic communities, and the disconnection between institutional empowerment and self-narrative construction. Therefore, specific practical paths are proposed from three aspects: role competence as the foundation for teacher role integration, community embedding to promote school community integration, and identity reconstruction to achieve educator identity integration.