PhD, Associate Professor A.V. Kergaard¹
Dr.Med., Professor, Head of Preventive Medicine and Health Basics Department R.B. Tsallagova¹
PhD N.V. Dubkova¹
Dr.Med. N.A. Zadorozhnaya^1
1Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg

Keywords: quality assessment, higher education, point rating system, bank of test tasks.

Background. Quality higher education that meets modern requirements is one of the main state strategic tasks, since it ensures the national well-being and security [1, 2]. The global scientific and technical progress and significant political, economic and social changes in the Russian society over the past decades have led to the development of a new strategy for the state development and put on the agenda the reform of the higher educational system, including the development of new criteria for assessing the quality of professional education in the field of physical education and sport [3, 5, 6].

Objective of the study was to develop and approve a bank of test tasks for assessing the quality of professional education in the discipline "Hygienic foundations of physical education and sports activities" for undergraduate third-year full-time students majoring in 49.03.01 "Physical Education" at Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg.

Results and discussion. The success of students` education is characterized by quantitative and qualitative assessment. The main criterion for assessing the quality of higher education is the learning outcomes, that is, the knowledge and skills that the students have acquired during the educational process, must demonstrate during the intermediate control, and subsequently be ready to apply these in their professional activities. This approach to assessing the quality of professional education underlies the recommendations of the National Qualifications System and the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), which are used in the Russian Federation [7, 8].

Domestic institutions of higher education traditionally used a four-point system for assessing the knowledge and skills of the students during the final exam: “excellent”, “good”, “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory”. Its main disadvantages are: lack of motivation for perseverance of learning activities, orientation to the assault and short term knowledge, intended only for the reproduction of knowledge and thinking, it may suffer from subjectivism in the assessment of the student`s knowledge. Therefore, in the recent decades, the score-rating system of grading, which is based on the accumulation of points for learning activity of a student during a certain period of study (module, semester, year, whole study period), is becoming increasingly popular.

For its application in the course of intermediate attestation, a bank of test tasks was developed, compiled in accordance with the Approximate basic professional educational program in the direction of training 49.03.01 "Physical Education " of the discipline "Hygienic foundations of physical education and sports activities" and aimed at in-depth assessment of the general professional competence 6: "Able to form a responsible attitude involved in physical education and sport activities, motivational and value orientations and healthy lifestyle."

The tasks were distributed over 4 indicators. Indicator 1: "Sanitary and hygienic bases of activity in the field of physical education and sport; hygienic means of recovery; hygienic principles of body tempering". Indicator 2: "The components of a healthy lifestyle and the factors that determine them." Indicator 3: "Methodical foundations of rational organization of nutrition during physical education and sport activity; food features in the training, prelaunch, competitive and recovery periods; importance and reception features of the intake of vitamin-mineral complexes and dietary supplements in physical education and sport activities; the concept of "food status." Indicator 4: "The effect of exercise on the indicators of physical development and biological age of children and adolescents."

The indicators corresponded to the sections of the discipline "Hygienic bases of physical education and sports activities" presented in the Approximate basic professional educational program in the direction of training 49.03.01 - "Physical Education", and included the following topics: 1. "Definition of the concept of hygiene. Healthy lifestyle". 2. "Microclimate. The factors of habitability." 3. "Nutritional hygiene". 4. "The health of children and adolescents. Age hygiene." For the 1st indicator 20 questions were compiled, for the 2nd indicator - 4 questions, for the 3rd indicator - 11 questions and for the 4th indicator - 5 questions.

For each indicator, the required number of questions of the following types was determined: 1) multiple choice; 2) the question of compliance; 3) a question with a short answer; 4) a question that requires writing an essay (Table 1).

Table 1. Types of questions offered in the tests

All questions were divided into 3 categories of difficulty. Each test version contained 16 questions covering all the topics of the listed indicators: 4 questions of the 1st category of difficulty, 8 questions of the 2nd category of difficulty, and 4 questions of the 3rd category of difficulty. Each student received 0.5 points for the correct answer to the question of the 1st category of complexity, 2 points for the correct answer to the question of the 2nd category of complexity and 3 points for the correct answer to the question of the 3rd category of complexity. The maximum number of points for each indicator was 7.5. The total score was 30 points, which corresponded to the traditional maximum examination mark (grade).

In the frame of the declared scientific investigation, 100 students of the 3rd year of full-time studies at the Winter Olympic Sports Faculty were tested in the bachelor’s degree course “Hygienic Basics of Physical Education and Sports Activities”. The students were tested on the day they passed the intermediate control in the traditional form - in the form of an oral examination when they answer the 3 questions on the examination ticket. The results of testing are presented in table 2.

Table 2. The results of testing the students in the discipline "Hygienic bases of physical уducation and sports activities" (n = 100)

Note: * - statistically significant difference from the average score for the oral examination in the Student's t-test at a significance level of 0.05.

As follows from the table above, for questions of the first category of difficulty, the average result was 0.3 points; for the second - 1.6 points; for the third - 2.4 points. The best result (7.1 points out of 7.5) was shown by the students in answers to questions corresponding to indicator 4. Apparently, this was due to the fact that this block included questions regarding the effect of exercise on various characteristics of the organism’s development, in which students were most competent. According to the results of testing, the average score for the intermediate control was 23.6, whereas when passing the oral examination, the average score was 27.5, which is statistically significantly higher in the Student's t-test at a significance level of 0.05.

The results of an anonymous survey of the students who participated in the study showed that the score-rating system of knowledge assessment contributes to enhancing their independent work, making it more systematic throughout the semester; better motivates learning and cognitive activity and initiative of the students; increases the objectivity of evaluating their knowledge; reduces psychological stress during the examination.

Conclusion. The score-rating system of knowledge assessing and the use of feedback with the students allows the teacher to develop a differentiated approach to the students, contributes to the rational alignment of instruction by students during the semester, especially during the test and examination sessions. The introduction of a carefully thought out rating system in the educational process eliminates a biased approach to the assessment of students' knowledge, acts as an effective means of encouraging their educational and cognitive activity, fosters responsibility for its effectiveness, eliminates the problem of irregular attendance of students and improves the quality of professional education in the field of physical education and sports.

References

1. Ashkinazi S.M. Main directions and results of research at Lesgaft university. Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury, 2016, no. 10. pp.6-9.
2. Medvedev D.N. Academic educational process quality evaluation system: domestic and foreign experience. Vestnik TGU, 2013, no. 9 (125), pp. 88-95.
3. Kjergaard A.V., Tsallagova R.B. Comparative analysis of educational process quality assessment systems in higher education institutions specializing in sports disciplines (review of foreign literature). Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury i sporta publ..
4. Bologna Secretariat (2012), Making the Most of Our Potential: Consolidating the European
5. Higher Education Area - Bucharest Communiqué of the European Ministers of Education,
6. Bucharest, http://www.ehea.info/Uploads/%281%29/Bucharest%20Communique%202012.pdf
7. Roald B., Mørland T. (2014), Development strategy for NOKUT 2015–2020. October 2014. https://www.nokut.no/siteassets/om-nokut/development_strategy_for_nokut_...
8. Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG). (2015). Brussels, Belgium.
9. QS World University Rankings by Subject. https://www.topuniversities.com/subject-rankings/2018.

Corresponding author: anna_kyergaard@mail.ru

Abstract. The article presents the results of the development and testing of a bank of test tasks for assessing the quality of professional education in the discipline "Hygienic foundations of physical culture and sports activities." The study involved 100 third-year undergraduate students enrolled in the direction of training 49.03.01 "Physical Education" at Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg. According to the results of the testing, the average score for the intermediate control was 23.6, while the average score was 27.5 for the oral exam. It is shown that the introduction of a carefully designed point rating assessment system in the educational process provides a rational organization of the students` learning activities and contributes to improving the quality of professional education in the field of physical culture and sport.