PhD, Associate Professor I.N. Nikulin¹
Dr.Hab., Professor I.V. Irkhina¹
Dr.Hab., Professor I.F. Isaev¹
PhD, Associate Professor E.N. Krolevetskaya^1
1Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod

Keywords: academic educational environment, stimulus situation, physical education interests and motivations, university students.

Background. National universities give a high priority to the students’ physical education interests and motivations; with such initiatives supported by the national research community that explores the physical education interests and motivations improvement methods with analyses of the subjective factors of influence on the students’ physical education values, priorities and agendas in different physical education domains [3]. It should be mentioned, however, that the actual students’ physical education interests and motivations are still low. One of the solutions for this problem, in our opinion, may be offered by special academic educational provisions to encourage, under certain conditions, students’ healthy interests in and motivations for the academic physical education and sport service.

Objective of the study was to analyze benefits of special academic educational provisions to encourage students’ physical education interests and motivations.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was run in 2018-2020 at Pedagogical Institute based on the “NRU Belgorod State National Research University research contest for grants to support public and humanitarian research" summary No. 826-OD of 14.08 2020.  We used the following research methods for the purposes of the study: theoretical analysis of the reference literature; physical education service analysis; students’ physical education progress data and physical education incentives/ encouragement initiatives; empirical studies with physical education service observations and trainer-trainee interaction analysis; questionnaire survey; training experiment; progress tests; and standard mathematical statistics methods for the survey data processing. We sampled 1,017 students for the study.

Results and discussion. A questionnaire survey of 2018 found 58.2%, 34.3% and 7.5% of the sample unmotivated, satisfactorily motivated and well motivated for the academic physical education service, respectively. Based on the pedagogical stimulation theory by L.Y. Gordin, Z.I. Ravkin et al. [2] and practical findings of the questionnaire survey, the university has taken efforts to spur up the students’ physical education motivations based on the actual individual needs, priorities, interests, attitudes and agendas in the physical education domain [1, 2, 5]. The personal motivations are also in need of external incentives that may be secured by special academic educational provisions defined by some analysts (by B.N. Bodenko, A.T. Kurakin, Y.S. Manuilov) as natural and artificially created socio-cultural environment including educational methods and tools geared to facilitate constructive physical education activity. Facilitating academic educational provisions may be also defined as the combination of material, pedagogical and psychological factors of university reality that encourage students for self-reliant progress in the physical education domain.

In structural terms, the academic educational provisions considered herein prioritizes harmonized management at different levels, with due material and technical assets; human resource; wide range of physical education service models and tools; programmatic and practical provisions for efficient physical education service; and sound traditions-based relationships in the university environment. Thus the physical-education-motivating academic educational provisions at Belgorod State University offers extensive material and technical physical education infrastructure including the S. Khorkina Sports Training Center with a 50-meter swimming pool, gymnastics gyms, indoor training venues, universal team sports hall, halls for choreography, table tennis, kickboxing, chess club, fitness gyms, etc. [4].

The physical-education-interests-and-motivations-hampering depersonalization aspects of the existing physical education and sports infrastructure are effectively removed in the academic educational provisions by active inclusion of every student in the training process, with a trainee expected to contribute to the teamwork with reasonable assistance from trainers. The academic educational provisions tools may be listed as follows: a set of physical education interests and motivations encouragement teaching aids, with combined material, moral and psychological incentives; stimulating situations and goals; encouraging microenvironments, etc. The trainees’ physical education interests and motivations are further encouraged by extra-curricular physical education services, sports events and volunteering service, with a special priority to synergy of the academic educational provisions actors.

Nowadays special role in physical education interests and motivations facilitation academic educational provisions is played by the GTO trainings and tests, with the academic educational provisions acting as a permanent physical education interests and motivations driver. The physical education stimulating tools include: special settings with the teacher programs for the physical-education-centered educational process; orienting situations with a range of options for trainees (different in physical education practice difficulty levels, special goals, GTO test deadlines, training service standards etc.); corrective situations with a special role played by the practical positive experience; self-motivational situations with the trainees given full freedom in opting for a range of physical education models and tools and physical education process self-management (including volunteering service). Such physical education interests and motivations facilitation tools have been found effective in the analyzed academic educational provisions.

Practical efficiency of an academic educational provisions heavily depends on how well the objective and subjective physical education conditions, interests and motivations are combined to effectively motivate students for physical education service customizable for age, gender and typological specifics on an individual basis. Such academic educational provisions were found beneficial as verified by the physical education motivations survey (of 2020) that demonstrated progress in the students’ physical education interests and motivations. Thus the unmotivated group was tested to contract from 58.2% to 18.3%; and satisfactorily and well motivated group to grow from 34.3% to 60% and 7.5% to 21.7%, respectively.

Conclusion. Modern physical-education-interests-and-motivations-facilitating academic educational provisions should be ranked prerequisite number one for the students’ physical education motivations, conditional on every student being involved in personally meaningful physical education activities. The academic educational provisions considered herein includes a range of the following physical education provisions: subject-specific and socio-psychological environments; sports events and festivals; practical service, with a wide range of physical education models and tools; educational; leisure-time (extra-curricular physical education and sport services); organizational (physical education management system, student self-government in the physical education domain, etc.). Generally the more diverse is the academic educational provisions the more efficient are the physical education interests and motivations encouragement initiatives ¹.

¹The study contributes to the Belgorod State University State Order for 2020-2022. № 0624-2020-0012 ‘Substantiation of integrated professional progress method for university education: universal competency, professional priorities and future teacher versatility formation dominants’

References

1. Gavrilik M.V. Effectiveness of academic physical education based on creating physical education and sports environment. Zdorovye dlya vsekh. 2020. No. 1. pp. 37-44.
2. Gordin L.Yu. Theory and Practice of Pedagogical Interests. Doct. Diss. Abstract (Hab.). 1979. 31 p.
3. Kondakov V.L., Goncharuk S.V., Voronin I.Yu. Management of Formation of Sports Orientation of Student's Personality. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2007. No. 9. pp. 15-18.
4. Polukhin O.N., Nikulin I.N., Irkhin V.N. et al. Health-promoting policy in Belgorod State National Research University. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury. 2016. no. 1. pp. 3-5.
5. Rubinstein S.L. Fundamentals of General Psychology. St. Petersburg: Piter publ., 2000. 592 p.

Corresponding author: krolevetskaya@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to analyze benefits of special academic educational provisions to encourage students’ physical education interests and motivations.

Methods and structure of the study. The study was run in 2018-2020 at Pedagogical Institute based on the “NRU Belgorod State National Research University research contest for grants to support public and humanitarian research" summary No. 826-OD of 14.08 2020.  We used the following research methods for the purposes of the study: theoretical analysis of the reference literature; physical education service analysis; students’ physical education progress data and physical education incentives/ encouragement initiatives; empirical studies with physical education service observations and trainer-trainee interaction analysis; questionnaire survey; training experiment; progress tests; and standard mathematical statistics methods for the survey data processing. We sampled 1,017 students for the study.

Results and conclusion. Based on the pedagogical stimulation theory and practical findings of a questionnaire survey, the university has taken efforts to spur up the students’ physical education motivation based on the actual individual needs, priorities, interests, attitudes and agendas in the physical education domain, with socio-cultural microenvironments including educational methods and tools geared to facilitate constructive physical education activity. Facilitating academic educational provisions may be defined as the combination of material, pedagogical and psychological factors of university reality that encourage students for self-reliant progress in the physical education domain. Such university academic educational provisions at Belgorod State National Research University were found beneficial as verified by the physical education motivations survey that demonstrated progress in the students’ physical education interests and motivations. Thus the unmotivated group was tested to contract from 58.2% to 18.3%; and satisfactorily and well motivated group to grow from 34.3% to 60% and 7.5% to 21.7%, respectively.