PhD, Associate Professor I.P. Grekhova¹
PhD, Associate Professor M.E. Guzich¹
PhD, Associate Professor N.P. Plekhanova^1
1Surgut State University, Surgut

Corresponding author: iri_gre@mail.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to survey and analyze the first-year physical education masters’ career ambitions.

Methods and structure of the study. The first-year physical education masters’ career ambitions / values survey was run in 2020. We sampled for the survey the Surgut State University (SSU) physical education and sports masters (n=36) and split them up into the following Experimental Groups (EG) by their master courses: (1) Physical Education and Sports Theory and Practice course: EG1 (n=12); (2) Adaptive Physical Education Service for Disabled People: Adaptive Physical Rehabilitation and Health curriculum: EG2 (n=12); and (3) Elite Sports Training Systems curriculum in the Sports course: EG3 (n=12). The groups were surveyed using the E. Shein Career Anchors Survey Method; with the group survey data processed and statistically analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results and Conclusion. The survey found the following dominant career values in every group. The first-year physical education and sports masters ranked high the socially appreciated career values including Service, Stable Job, Autonomy, Management, Business, Professional Motivation and some others – that means that the sample is sensitive to the modern socio-economic and political situations. Professional Competence and Stable Residence career values were ranked lowest in the career values hierarchy by the sample, and this finding gives reasons to believe that the first-year masters are still under-committed for the declared values and priorities and unclear on the ways their career ambitions may be realized. We believe that one of the ways to address this problem is to give a higher priority to studies in the Self-management and Progress and Leadership and Project Teamwork courses designed to help the young people explore the opportunities for their abstract aspirations being analyzed and shaped up so as to set clear specific progress goals and effectively forecast, design and manage own individual and professional progress agendas.

Keywords: career values, sports activity, personality qualities, volitional and behavioral control.

Background. The national physical education and sports personnel education system gives a special priority to the physical education and sport service in the northern areas of the country due to the harsh climatic conditions of potential detriment for public health. Of special theoretical and practical interest in this context may be the individual psychological characteristics, values, priorities and career ambitions on the whole of the physical education and sports master course graduates recruited for the physical education and sport service in these areas – all the more that many authors believe [1, 2] that the career ambitions are naturally formed in the early learning and maturation stages to keep fairly stable for a long time thereafter being often realized unconsciously.

Objective of the study was to survey and analyze the first-year physical education masters’ career ambitions.

Methods and structure of the study. The first-year physical education masters’ career ambitions / values survey was run in 2020. We sampled for the survey the Surgut State University (SSU) physical education and sports masters (n=36) and split them up into the following Experimental Groups (EG) by their master courses: (1) Physical Education and Sports Theory and Practice course: EG1 (n=12); (2) Adaptive Physical Education Service for Disabled People: Adaptive Physical Rehabilitation and Health curriculum: EG2 (n=12); and (3) Elite Sports Training Systems curriculum in the Sports course: EG3 (n=12). The groups were surveyed using the E. Shein Career Anchors Survey Method [1]; with the group survey data processed and statistically analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-test.

Results and discussion. The survey found the following dominant career values in every group: Service, Stable Job, Autonomy and Lifestyle Integration scored by 7.8, 7.6, 7 and 7 points on average, respectively.

Service as the lead value means that the students strive to help people and communities with their physical education and sports knowledge, skills and experience as successfully as possible to achieve certain individual and social goals. The U-test showed the EG2 vs. EG3 difference being insignificant (Uemp. = 39.5); EG1 vs. EG2 difference uncertain (Uemp. = 26), and EG1 vs. EG3 difference significant (Uemp. = 7.5) in the Service domain.

Stable Job with its dependability and social guarantees from the employer was ranked second career values by the sample. The EG2 vs. EG3 difference was tested statistically significant (Uemp. = 12.5); EG1 vs. EG2 difference insignificance (Uemp. = 51.5); and the EG1 vs. EG3 difference uncertain (Uemp. = 19) on the Stable Job scale.

Autonomy and Lifestyle Integration values were also ranked reasonably high by the groups as they are perceived important for the professional progress, independent work and decision-making for success in the individual physical education and sports careers. At the same time, the sample showed an aspiration to keep the individual lifestyle harmonized with the professional career that should ideally respect and facilitate the individual/ family agendas. The survey found no statistically significant intergroup differences on these scales.

The sample ranked medium the following career values: Management, Professional Motivation, Challenge, Business and Professional Competence scored by 6.7, 6.3, 5.8, 5.7 and 5.0 points on average, respectively.

Thus the Professional Motivation Career Values was ranked high enough (with the statistically insignificant intergroup differences) since the sample appeared to understand that the professional successes, job satisfactions and individual/ professional progress agendas largely depend on the individual job-specific motivations with their focuses, intensities, sustainability, scopes and driving forces.

Business career values were also ranked high in association with the Stable Job career values that gives reasons to assume that the sample strives to serve others not only within the formal public physical education and sport system but also establish a private business to effectively make the dreams come true and attain the individual goals.

Professional Competence career values was ranked lower than the above listed eight career values. It should be mentioned that EG2 was tested statistically significantly different from the other two groups (Uemp = 25) on this scale; and this means that the masters of Adaptive Physical Education and Sport Service for disabled people appreciate more than the other groups the professional knowledge, skills and experience supported by the self-learning and training agendas as beneficial for the adaptive physical education and sport service and practical progresses.

Ranked lowest by the sample was Stable Residence scored by 3.4 points on average, that means that the sample appreciates the jobs and career option in their home cities being prepared at the same time to resettle if the physical education and sport service vacancies in other cities are of interest for them.

Conclusion. The first-year physical education and sports masters ranked high the socially appreciated career values including Service, Stable Job, Autonomy, Management, Business, Professional Motivation and some others – that means that the sample is sensitive to the modern socio-economic and political situations. Professional Competence and Stable Residence career values were ranked lowest in the career values hierarchy by the sample, and this finding gives reasons to believe that the first-year masters are still under-committed for the declared values and priorities and unclear on the ways their career ambitions may be realized. We believe that one of the ways to address this problem is to give a higher priority to studies in the Self-management and Progress and Leadership and Project Teamwork courses designed to help the young people explore the opportunities for their abstract aspirations being analyzed and shaped up so as to set clear specific progress goals and effectively forecast, design and manage own individual and professional progress agendas.

References

1. Guzich M.E. Professional Counseling Workshop. Surgut: SurSU publ., 2012. 206 p.
2. Mogilevkin E.A. Career growth: diagnostics, technology, training. St. Petersburg: Rech publ., 2007. 336 p.