Dr.Hab., Professor V.V. Mironov¹
PhD O.S. Botsman¹
PhD, Professor A.V. Zykov²
PhD, Professor A.N. Kisly^1
1Military Institute of Physical Training, St. Petersburg
²Physical Training and Sports Department of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, Moscow

Keywords: research method, professional education, programmed education, problem-solving education, Gymnastics and Athletic Training, theoretical and practical training, education programming principles, practical tasks.

Background. The physical education specialist training system at Military Institute of Physical Training includes the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education service components designed to train a highly competent and skillful physical education specialist fully prepared to provide modern physical education service customizable to age, physical fitness, functionality, combat experience and service term groups in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Didactic competences and physical fitness skills of the military physical education specialists are formed in the theoretical and practical training courses with a special emphasis on the practical and probation trainings in the troops, military training establishments and at the departments of Military Institute of Physical Training. A special role in the physical education specialist commanding, practical, physical education service design and management mastery formation process is played by the Gymnastics and Athletic Training Department with its traditional gymnastics training programs for cadets – that were designed and first implemented at the military academies back in the 1970-80ies [2, 4].

Since the new FSHES and 2009 Physical Training Instructions (PIT-2009) for the Armed Forces were put into effect, the military academic training system has been in need for new programmable and problem-solving learning materials for the theoretical and practical training of the Military Institute of Physical Training physical education cadets.

Objective of the study was to provide a theoreticala and practical basis for a new Gymnastics and Athletic Training model for the uninterrupted training of the military physical education specialists.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was run at Military Institute of Physical Training based on analysis of the PIT-78, PIT-87, PIT-2001 and PIT-2009 requirements and standards under the ongoing Training-4, Prospects, Prospects-2, Training-90 Research Projects and the special Complex, Complex-2, Complex-3 and Methodology Research Projects run by the Gymnastics and Athletic Training Department faculty. These multiannual theoretical and experimental research projects have given the means to integrate the training systems for the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education services and offer an uninterrupted physical education specialist training model for the military educational system.

Results and discussion. The education programs include algorithmic and semi-algorithmic training practices (with the strict frameworks for the education service and optional training models) plus heuristic problem-solving tasks within a specific education program or education service format [1, 3]. The theoretical and practical training service programming for the gymnastics trainings is designed to:

• Analyze and summarize the potential problematic situations in the military physical education service;
• Find the optimal training service designs, schedules and workloads;
• Process the background information, work out the physical education service algorithm and put together the specific practical tasks;
• Put in place an effective progress test system with a feedback capacity designed in a ‘transparent box’ format to secure due customization of the physical education service; and
• Integrate the specific training tasks into the special education programs.

It should be mentioned that the problem-solving education, on top of the theoretical and practical skills developing trainings, gives a special priority to the cadet’s abilities to program/ design the theoretical and practical physical education service with demo sessions and other special physical education service tools to have it efficiently customized for every category of the military service personnel [3].

Our study was designed to offer a practical Gymnastics and Athletic Training model for the following groups:

• Cadets of the academic physical education and secondary vocational physical education courses under the academic Physical Education / Physical Fitness, Athletic Sports Theory and Practices, Basic and New Physical Education and Sport/ Health Service Models disciplines;
• Trainees in the advanced physical education courses in the following disciplines: Priority Physical Education Practices; Basic physical education Service Models Design and Management; Physical Training Service Models for Suvorov Military Schools and Cadet Corps; Modern Academic Physical Education Service Models; and Profession-specific Training Technologies;

Practical trainings may be described as the education programs geared to form and excel the theoretical, managerial and practical competences and skills of the cadets and trainees. Such education programs offer a wide range of practical tasks to update the trainees on the key issues of the modern military physical education service and its design and implementation aspects.

The new Gymnastics and Athletic Training model was designed on the following key principles:

Educational process staging principle recognizes the fact that the key responsibility of every Military Institute of Physical Training physical education graduate is to efficiently design and manage the military physical education service in the troops and at military schools/ academies. 

Uninterrupted professional education principle secures a multilevel theoretical and practical training for the advanced physical education service categorized into the following fields.

Education goals setting principle is governed by the FSMHES (Federal State Military Higher Education Standards) for 56.0.5.03 Military Service Physical Training discipline with the standards for the general cultural, general professional and special professional competences and skills of the Military Institute of Physical Training graduates. It was based on the standard didactic, managerial, recreation, rehabilitation, research and coaching competences of the physical education specialist that we designed the new Gymnastics and Athletic Training model customizable to the advanced physical education service groups.

Functional harmony of the education programming tasks was secured on a goals-driven basis to provide the high quality physical education service design and management skills to the cadets and trainees of the Institute. Thus the practical trainings in the Gymnastics and Athletic Training course include certain practical tasks categorized for the physical education groups. For example, a physical education instructor must solve 16 tasks; a physical education instructors’ platoon commander must solve 21 task; military unit physical education head must solve 25 tasks; a physical education teacher or Physical Education Department faculty member must solve 19 tasks; etc.

Education material programming principle may be illustrated by the fact that the education program with the theoretical and practical training elements for the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education course cadets and trainees offers 35 practical tasks including 25 gymnastics practices; 8 athletic practices; and 5 practices in the gymnastics and athletics research issues. Every task integrates a few (A, B, C etc.) subtasks that total as many as 93 including 10 research subtasks. Such design makes it possible to effectively customize the theoretical and practical trainings for the groups.

Education data algorithm forming principle may be otherwise defined as the education program individualization concept with the cadets and trainees expected to actively contribute to the interactive theoretical and practical training process. This principle implies the practical tasks being categorized in the following three types. Type one is the algorithmic tasks intended to train skills and competences for a variety of standard solutions for the typical problems coming up in the physical education service process, with every response action prescribed by such algorithms. Normally these tasks are offered in the micro-group training formats to activate and motivate the trainees and cadets and help them focus attention on the key points of the practical trainings. Type two is the semi-algorithmic tasks which also imply some kind of a frame algorithm albeit complicated by a few unexpected problems that should be solved within a specific timeframe. This type of tasks is the most typical for cadets and trainees of the advanced physical education service/ retraining system. And type three is the heuristic tasks that outline only the physical education service content and some general goals, with the cadets and trainees expected to find on their own the most appropriate physical education service models with the training process intensity and workload management formats. These high-difficulty problem-solving tasks are intended to cultivate due creativity in the trainees as an indispensable asset for their tutorial careers. Normally these tasks are solved in the role game formats in the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advancement physical education courses including the gymnastics and athletics training components under control of the professional retraining group officers.

Didactic units integration principle implies that the education program tasks are offered as reasonably composed and interrelated portions of the learning material, with such didactic units being fairly inclusive. For example, the heuristic task ‘Gymnastics and athletic training session design for a military unit’ includes a range of semi-algorithmic and algorithmic subtasks that need to be integrated on a consistent and efficient basis

Education theory, method and practice integration principle may be illustrated by the fact that the Gymnastics and Athletic Training model includes a few information modules for the theoretical, methodological and practical training components i.e. the theoretical and methodological issues in every training session are followed by the relevant gymnastics and athletic practices within the subject topic.

And the task-specific information provisioning principle is dictated by the traditional military pedagogy that implies the competences and skills being mastered in the following sequence: background theory followed by a primary practical training, then goes the combined skills mastering, and then the advanced integrated skills mastering and excellence trainings.

Conclusion. The study offers a set of principles for the new Gymnastics and Athletic Training model for improved academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education services in the military training system.

References

1. Kisly A.N. [ed.] Gimnastika i atleticheskaya podgotovka: Programmirovanny kurs po teoreticheskoy, metodicheskoy i prakticheskoy podgotovke kursantov [Gymnastics and athletic training: programmed course on theoretical, methodological and practical training of students]. Study guide. St. Petersburg: SK MO RF, MIPT publ., 1993. 346 p.
2. Mironov V.V., Kisly A.N., Kupriyanov N.I. et al. Metodika podgotovki kursantov k pedagogicheskoy praktike po gimnastike [Methods of training cadets for teaching practice in gymnastics]. Teaching aid. Leningrad: VDKFFK publ., 1988. 104 p.
3. Mironov V.V. Teoretiko-metodicheskie osnovy formirovaniya pedagogicheskogo masterstva u voennosluzhashchikh, provodyashchikh vse vidy zanyatiy po fizicheskoy podgotovke [Theoretical and methodological foundations of teaching skills building in military personnel conducting all kinds of physical training classes]. St. Petersburg: MIPT publ., 2017. 296 p.

Corresponding author: olushkam@yahoo.com

Abstract

The physical education specialist training system at Military Institute of Physical Training includes the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education courses. The article analyzes the ways to improve the theoretical and practical trainings under the Gymnastics and Athletic Training discipline with its academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education courses at Military Institute of Physical Training – by means of programmed problems-solving education models. The study data and analyses were used to design a new Gymnastics and Athletic Training model with its special priorities and principles including: education process staging; uninterrupted professional education; education goals setting; education material programming; education data algorithms forming; didactic units integration; education theory, method and practice integration; and task specific information provisioning principles. These principles made it possible to substantiate the practical practices to improve the competences, skills and abilities trained by the Gymnastics and Athletic Training discipline in the academic physical education, secondary vocational physical education and advanced physical education courses.