Physical culture and sport in university complex as factors of formation of student’s competitive resource

V.V. Baranov, head of the chair of physical education, professor, Ph.D. Orenburg state university, Orenburg

Key words: competitive resource, university complex, factor analysis, sports and context games.

Introduction. Recently the problem of competitiveness of Russian student has become an important matter for the pedagogical community. In the conditions of crisis economy of the ХХI century competitiveness of the university graduate represents the delayed result of education, for it is determined more by the graduate’s mobility on a labor market and long-term success in his professional career rather than by his employment and present demand. Therefore, the suggestions of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin are of special importance, who on the meeting with student sports clubs representatives on January 24 2013 stressed that “health support, priority for every single person and society in general, is the key reason that makes all of us, sensible people, do sports. It’s especially acute for young people who have long life ahead: family foundation, childbirth, production success”. Proceeding from the contemporary sociological and philosophic studies by O.V. Letunova, F.R. Tutkarov, A.V. Scherbina, Tom Verhoeff et al., competitive personal qualities, their competitive resource are associated with agonal activity, ability to show personal qualities in the emulative and competitive environment. The researchers assert that competition is a cultural phenomenon with deep ancestry, and competition “as elimination” of the opponent and competition “as a contest and mutual development” is initially present in the mythologemes of consciousness in the form of precondition. So, applying to the university educational conditions, we find it necessary to mark numerous potentials and forms of such a competition, e.g. for leadership in a class or in student’s research work. Meanwhile, classes of physical culture and sport promote the greatest potentials for competitive activity during studies and after it.  

The purpose of the present study was to establish the role of physical culture and sport in formation of the student’s competitive resource within a university complex. The study was based on the analysis of the mechanism of formation of the competitive resource – the process of self-development with the use of knowledge instruments in the form of approval of the factor analysis by the questionnaire data. Various technologies of formation of competitive resource, integrating competitive, communicative and quasi-professional activities, were subjected to testing.

Materials and methods.  The processes, mechanisms and manifestations of self-development are studied using various questionnaires, tests and inventories. Thus, for instance, V.V. Fedorov in his work “Pedagogical support of students’ personal and corporal self-development as a factor of humanization of higher education” used the M. Rokich’s direct ranging technique, enhanced by A. Goshtaus, A.A. Semenov, V.A. Yadov, and allocated twelve statements defining students’ attitude to active life in view of the common human values like freedom, development, health, security, material well-being, professional and personal advancement, love etc.). In the study “Professional and creative self-development of subjects’ university educational process” I.A. Sharshov applied the ultimate meanings technique (D.A. Leont’ev, V.N. Buzin), self-attitude test (V.V. Stolin, S.R. Panteleev), A.E. Golomshtok’s “Interest card”, “Ability to control self-presentation” test (N.M. Peisakhov); estimation of communicative and organizational skills during initial professional consultation (B.A. Fedorishkin), self-efficacy scale (adapted by A.V. Boyarintseva), “Readiness for personal development” test (T.A. Ratanova, N.F. Shlyakhta),  drawing test “Business situations” (based on the Rozenzweig picture-frustration test).

The logics of the study supposed a pre-study of different questionnaires and inventories in the problem area of self-development, allocation of the invariant part of the content of these instruments, synthesis of invariants, overpacking of the questionnaire with the statements affecting (by the researchers’ data) the process of self-development. In the present study we relied on the ideas of the resource approach in education (A.M. Kondakov [6]) and pedagogical prognostics (B.S. Gershunsky [3]). Thus, we were supposed to get an excessive model of the questionnaire “Resources, deficiencies and factors of competitive development”, made of 89 statements-indicators, conditionally united into external and internal factors of self-development. The internal factors were represented by abilities, qualities, personal physical potentials, education, life experience, role of some life principles and life perspectives. Whereas the external factors acute for self-development were: teachers’ and class supervising professors’ assistance, curricula, classes of physical culture, research work, university sports, informational-technological, educational and research bases, as well as university environment.

Proceeding from the studies of A.A. Ukhtomsky and G.K. Selevko [7], conditions of organization of subject’s activity (“activity” subsystem) and specific setup of the environment of the subject of knowledge, adequate to the goals of formation of dominating ideas of self-improvement of his personality are acute in self-development.

Herewith, the processes of formation of student’s personal competitive resource, adduced in the studies of L.A. Bod’yan, A.V. Grishin, T.A. Danilova, S.V. Zverev, L.V. Kurzaeva, D.A. Mustafina, T.A. Slivina, L.A. Sheptalina, Zh.A. Shutkina, were also taken into account.

As follows from the studies carried out in Orenburg state university, the university complex environment promotes remarkable changes in the forms and the content of student’s activity: dynamic changes of students’ value orientations (A.V. Kir’yanova), formation of new educational culture (L.A. Vitvitskaya, L.V. Musienko), active development of integrative educational environment (V.P. Kovalevsky [5]), realization of the projects of competency development (I.D. Belonovskaya), accumulating the new type of resource – the resource of self-education (N.M. Minyaeva).

Results and discussion. The obtained inventory answer set was processed automatically according to the V.A. Chepasov’s technique [1]. Statistical characteristics and conditionalities of the research parameters were described by means of the designed common matrix of the study, with the columns of 89 statements of the inventory and lines - the values of the obtained research parameters by the corresponding observations.

In accordance with the stipulated results of the correlation analysis all characteristic statements are slightly linearly correlated with each other. More profound correlations and group conditionalities were allocated in the study matrix by means of factor analysis.

In accordance with the method of factor analysis the characteristics united in a single factor have an identical nature of behavior and group conditionalities. Any characteristic found in one factor can be defined by all other characteristics within this factor, using the relevant regression equations [1]. The factor of ultimate factor loading is found among the united characteristics and called basic for the quoted factor. V.I. Chepasov’s techniques [1] promote minimization of the number of items in the inventory, leaving only the basic ones. The present study contains 37 basic characteristics (initially - 89 characteristic statements). The determined relevant regression equations provide for the real capacity of limiting the work content of the questionnaire and thus making it more efficient.

Factor analysis revealed the specifics of our respondents – the 1-3 year university complex students, for whom optimistic confidence is a principle of self-development and essential sports, research and educational university bases as an environment for self-development, along with the significant role of supervising professor in setting life perspectives.

The obtained results are marked to agree with the ones of numerous sociological and pedagogical studies of value and life orientations of the modern youth who assumes material well-being as one of key success indicators, and vocational training is to show all the variety of the world as well as to form competency. The experience of independence, self-realization, self-appraisal and success in actions is extremely important for students. High evaluation of personal research qualities, stress on confidence, agility, help of personal experience in studies and realization of life plans correspond to the age content of the respondents. 

The quoted data validate the worked inventory as a method to study the processes of self-development and the potential of applying factor analysis to the questionnaire and inventory results in the aspect of self-development of university students.

Conclusions and recommendations. The questionnaire results, allocated using factor analysis and quantitative conditionalities, promoted a number of conclusions.

Self-acceptance and self-appraisal based on self-assertion are the key mechanisms of the process of students’ self-development within a university complex. These very statements are basic among such well-known mechanisms and manifestations of self-development as self-forecasting, self-improvement and self-actualization. The situations of contentiousness, competitiveness and success are the instruments of the mechanism.

The internal factors of students’ self-development are the variety and success of the experience of independent realization of personal plans and the experience of independent education and labour, crucial in formation of student’s life statement, whereas healthy mind and body are an important internal factor of students’ self-development. Thus they are interested in the state and development of university sport activity, physical culture, as well as supervisory control as an institutional form of pedagogical support of the processes of self-development (specifically for the 1-3 year students). Development of tutorship in universities will obviously become an additional positive factor.

Concerning the external factors facilitating self-development and referred to the components of the university competitive resource, students assume educational, research and sports constituents of the university environment as the most valuable. The correlation of the external and internal factors is seen in the allocation of the groups of factors of the positive effect on self-development. Among them students specify classes of physical culture and sport and developed sports university base, research work and level of information and technological, educational and research university bases, complex collaboration with university teachers – tutorship in a class.

 In reliance upon the submitted study the author’s program “Sport and profession” was approved in the university complex on the base of Orenburg state university and included integrative sports context games.

The idea of sports context games originates from the American method of Edge Games (sports games for professional success), designed by the Public Relations Student Society of Texas, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso etc. The game includes stages focused on setting up of success situations based on the work of the “winners’ team”. The games are extracurricular and held in clubs, sections and coaching classes. The first stages of the game consist of short-term sports team contests followed by the interaction in context of future profession, the next stage is the elements of business professionally-focused games in the established team and finally – the elements of professionally-focused strategic games. Every stage touches upon various aspects that gradually lead to the personal success of every person. In Orenburg it was A.V. Silkin, who subjected the content of the professionally-focused game stages based on the material of the specialty of “Crisis management” [8]. The atmosphere of fun, creativity and interest makes the process of setting up a new stage of personal success even more effective. 

The student and teacher interaction both in sports contests and in the context of future profession is especially close in university affiliates. Within the university complex such games were held in the Akbulak affiliate of Orenburg state university, the Kumertau affiliate, Buzuluk transport Industry College. Teachers, supervising professors and supervising instructors turned into full-fledged players. In the Kumertau affiliate members of the student research society take part in the games. Moreover, the researchers designed engineering game methods (A.Ya. Mel’nikova, I.D. Belonovskaya) [2].

The developed university sports base determined the potential of creating corporate health groups with students and teachers working together, where game sports (basketball, futsal, volleyball etc.) are the most popular. Establishment of university campuses in Orenburg provided for involvement of postgraduates into these groups as well.

In the students’ opinion, competitive sports activity, occupations of physical culture and professionally-focused collaboration for the purpose of vocational training created the atmosphere of corporate success. Thus the corporate support groups of competitioners were arranged, made of student participants of the university athletic games “University”, teachers-participants of the athletic games “Vigour and health” and their fans.

 Special courses for the career development system for university teachers, group supervising professors and Masters of Education were designed to train teachers for interaction with students in formation of their competitive resource. The courses were proved successful for the parent university, as well as for the affiliates and colleges of the University complex. The content of the disciplines presupposed teachers learning the basic principles of health saving technologies, design of effective personality-professional strategies of self-development, mastering the methodologies of team work and creative groups. The results of the carried out projects laid the basis of repeated random questionnaires, proving the fact of the intensified development of competitive qualities within students, participants of the sports context games and corporate groups with the additional positive effect of the grown interest of students in research work in cooperation with teachers within the framework of students’ scientific research.  

Bibliography

1.    Baranov, V.V., Belonovskaya, I.D., Chepasov, V.I. Factor analysis as an instrument of pedagogical knowledge on self-development of a university complex student // Vestnik Orenburgskogo universiteta. 2012. - №2. - P.21-27. (In Russian)

2.    Belonovskaya, I.D., Mel’nikova, A.Ya. Engineering games in teachers’ practice // Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii. 2009. № 3. - P. 112-119. (In Russian)

3.    Gershunsky, B.S. Educational and pedagogical prognostics. Theory, methods, practice. Moscow, Flinta: Nauka, 2003. (In Russian)

4.    Ekshikeev, T.K. Development of university competitive potential in the market of educational services // Problemy sovremennoi ekonomiki, 2009.  N 2 (30). (In Russian)

5.     Kovalevsky, V.P. Theoretical and methodological basics of formations of the regional university complex: monograph - Moscow: Ekonomika. - 2004. -  307 P. (In Russian)

6.    Kondakov, A.M. Education as a resource of personal, social and municipal development. – St.Petersburg: Spets. Lit., 2004. (In Russian)

7.    Selevko, G.K. Encyclopedia of educational technologies: In 2 V. / G.K. Selevko. -  Moscow, 2006.-216 P. (In Russian)

8.    Silkin, A.V., Belonovskaya, I.D. Technologies of active teaching while training future crisis managers // Vysshee obrazovanie segodnya . -  2010. - № 10. -  P. 23-26. (In Russian)

Author’s contacts: ph.: 8(3532) 372468, e-mail: t251589@mail.ru