This study examines the formation, development, and refinement of policies and the legal framework governing physical education in Vietnamese schools by analyzing education and sports legislation from 2005–2015. It employs documentary research, doctrinal legal analysis, systematic analysis, and historical legal analysis to examine the relationships among the laws and decrees regulating physical education. The findings indicate that the legal framework was progressively refined by expanding its regulatory scope, strengthening coherence between education and sports legislation, and more clearly defining mechanisms of state management and the responsibilities of regulatory authorities and educational institutions in organizing physical education. The promulgation of Decree No. 11/2015/ND-CP marked a transition from fragmented regulation toward a dedicated legal framework for physical education and school sports activities. Nevertheless, the study identifies several limitations, including the fragmentation of legal instruments, insufficiently coordinated intersectoral mechanisms, a lack of quality assessment and accountability instruments, and the continued predominance of administrative control in the management model. Accordingly, the study proposes policy improvements to strengthen the coherence of the legal system, introduce quality-oriented governance in physical education, promote intersectoral coordination, and improve policy implementation in the context of educational reform.