Background <p>The importance of physical education for students has been widely recognized, not only in terms of its profound impact on students’ physical health and quality, but also in terms of its contribution to students’ mental health, which is why it is so important to plan physical education prior to its implementation. However, the actual situation shows that researchers regard the term “physical education program” as a general concept to cover the design and implementation of physical education curriculum, as well as the related actions of schools and teachers, and there is some ambiguity in its conceptual definition and connotative characteristics. Therefore, this study seeks to explore the themes related to physical education programs and to develop a preliminary conceptual framework for the term.</p> Methods <p>In this study, the search, screening, and data followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Evaluation and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines, and the literature search was conducted between June and August 2024. During this period, all relevant studies published up to 2024 that met the inclusion criteria were systematically searched and retrieved. We collected literature on relevant topics in three commonly used databases, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect, respectively, based on established inclusion and exclusion criteria. The included literature was coded and analyzed in Nvivo software using thematic analysis.</p> Results <p>After screening and including 63 studies, we used thematic analysis to identify four major core themes about physical education programs: educational goals, content design, implementation methods, and effects and impacts, and elaborated on the connotations and characteristics of each theme by citing the original text. Finally, we explain the identified core themes and the relationships between them in the light of Taylor’s theory of curriculum design, and explore in depth how these relationships structure the term “physical education program.”</p> Conclusion <p>In physical education programs, educational goals ultimately promote students’ physical and mental development by influencing the content design and delivery methods, while the content design and implementation methods directly affect students’ participation, skill acquisition, and mental health through actual teaching and learning activities. In addition, the long-term impact of students is also closely related to these factors, suggesting that physical education programs play a crucial role in promoting the overall development of students. In future research, combining these theoretical frameworks and further exploring the effects of different types of physical education programs in different cultural and social contexts will help enrich the theory and practice of physical education.</p>