Professor, Honored Coach of Russia M.P. Spirina¹
PhD, Associate Professor V.P. Shlykov¹
PhD, Associate Professor Y.V. Kuznetsova¹
Associate Professor, Honored Coach L.I. Kizilov^1
1Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin, Yekaterinburg

Corresponding author: m.p.spirina@urfu.ru

Abstract

Objective of the study was to substantiate optimal pedagogical decisions to improve the physical education process for students with health disorders.

Methods and structure of the study. As part of the study, we conducted a system analysis of special literature, analyzed the results of case monitoring and pedagogical observations, and pooled the data from medical examinations and sociological and psychological surveys, which made it possible to assemble a full picture of the subject matter. The study has been conducted since 1991. It involves the Ural Federal University students of all departments, who were attributed to the special health group based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-10).

Results and conclusions. A specially organized learning environment focused on individual development paths was created. The combination of various forms of educational and cognitive activity, mutual assistance and cooperation with the administration of the university led to the optimization of the vocational training of students with health disorders and disabilities.

A sociometric technique was used to form the study groups taking into account the peculiarities and nature of their impact on personality development. A high level of communication was achieved in the student-teacher relationships and within the group itself. New methods and styles of pedagogical communication, which enabled students to successfully realize their potential, were introduced. The results of the independent testing of the 2017/18 academic year showed great academic progress of the special health group students (82% - excellent, 15% - good, 3% - satisfactory).

Keywords: special health group students, physical education process optimization.

Background. Lately the academic education service for students with disabilities and health disorders has been ranked among the key priorities of the national social and education policies. Rights of the people with disabilities and health disorders are protected by the Constitution of the Russian Federation of 12.12.1993, Federal Law of 29.12.2012 No. 273 "On Education in the Russian Federation" and Federal Law of 03.05.2012 No. 46-FL "On Ratification of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities". The national educational system has persistently and successfully implemented special customizable physical educational models for vocational training of students with disabilities and special health needs to facilitate their adaptation and social integration.

Objective of the study was to theoretically substantiate and analyze benefits of a new optimized physical education model for students with disabilities and special health needs.

Methods and structure of the study. We have analyzed the available literature on the academic physical education models for special health groups [2-7]. To comprehensively analyze the everyday needs and lifestyles of the special health group students, we used the G. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire [1] for the personality typing and profiling, plus “Lifestyle of students with special educational needs” and “Attitudes to physical education” questionnaire surveys.

The new physical education model piloting study was run since 1991 till present. We sampled for the study the Ural Federal University students attributed to the special health group based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF-10). The special customizable training model was designed to encourage the personality progress and self-development efforts of the sample and included the following three stages - motivational, cognitive operational and reflexive progress test ones. Of special interest for the surveys were the factors of influence on the learning motivations building component. The educational materials were selected to encourage healthy physical education interests and facilitate self-reliant, proactive and determined attitudes of the sample to learning, with a special attention to the individual physical health improvement agendas.

Results and discussion. In our methodological basis formation efforts followed by practical physical education service solutions we opted for a system approach with a special focus on the corrective developmental and educational technologies sensitive to creative thinking of the teaching personnel. The physical education model formation process from decision making to practical solutions may be classified into the following stages: selecting a few most efficient options to optimize the physical education service; analyzing the available data on the practical benefits of every option; sorting out the options to find the best two most suitable for the service; compare the time costs and benefits of the two options to arrive to the final decision. In view of the educational service mission and goals, we selected the most efficient tools to optimize the physical education service using a set of optimization criteria and education problems solving toolkit [4].

The first optimization criterion was to secure the individual goals and agendas being attained by every special health group student with a special attention to the individual progress needs and resources. As a result, up to 52% of the sample was tested with physical health improvements. Individual progress in physical fitness domain made it possible to re-qualify 8% to 10.5% of the sample from special health group to preparatory group, with 2.5% to 3.5% of the sample qualified fully healthy and written off the special medical records; and the health-related absenteeism was reported to fall by 38.88% for the period [7]. On the whole, analysis of the faculty’s physical education service provided to the special health group for the period since 1991 till now showed that the training service mission has been basically attained.

The second optimization criterion was to prudently combine and standardize the physical education classes with extracurricular practices to find the most efficient combinations of the physical education service methods and tools. It should be emphasized that success of an educational service largely depends on the didactic teacher-student cooperation and communication facilitated by special educational provisions. Such pedagogical cooperation is essentially geared to establish a direct and indirect communication of the process actors to help them build up trustful and respectful teamwork. In case of the students with special health needs, the didactic forms and tools shall be selected on a particularly sensitive partnership.

We prioritized for the pedagogical communication optimizing purposes the communicative techniques meant to: prevent and remove barriers for communication; provide practical support for good communication; and encourage the counter educational and cognitive activity of the students. The communicative progress surveys classified the communication into the following three levels: high, with perfect mutual understanding and trust; low, with little if any understanding and cooperation; and moderate. Generally, it is the pedagogical skills that will form a basis for teacher-student communication and cooperation – largely driven by the individual personal and professional qualities of the teacher.

The physical education department faculty has been successful in maintaining and improving professional qualifications, with due contribution from the self-learning and advanced experience sharing elements assisted by special advanced training and retraining courses. For the last few years, the Ural Federal University management has taken special efforts (as required by the new legal and regulatory provisions) to facilitate vocational education service for students with disabilities and health disorders. It was in 2016 that the university established an inclusive education center. The faculty was trained by a special advanced course to acquire new knowledge and skills in the special health group training including the following courses: "Organizational and substantive provisions for educational service to people with disabilities", "First aid", "Operations of the theoretical and practical resource center for students with disabilities" etc.

The special health group composition is one more important factor for the special physical education service success since the interpersonal communication and cooperation in a group may be critical for an individual progress. The Figure hereunder shows the special health group progress statistics versus the total numbers of students in the physical education classes. Thus prior to the 2013-14 academic year when the physical education service took four years, the special health group grew from 10.44% in 1991 to 29.76% in 2001 of the total student populations. Since the merger of Ural State University and USTU-UPI, the special health group numbers continued to grow to reach 40.37% of the student population in 2018.

Having analyzed the study findings and experiences for the period, we made informed managerial decisions on the special health group compositions by the levels of psychophysical fitness for the special health physical education service. Our own experience, Mannheim system and the A.M. Vishnevsky’s and P.V. Shlykov’s recommendations made it possible to successfully form the training groups. In addition to the individual diagnoses, we took into account the following factors: intra-group activity, with tests of the individual activities of the group members; leaderships, roles and influences of some group members; group microclimates with the individual comforts; reference i.e. discipline in adherence to group standards and norms; group organization and self-management capacity; intellectual communication with mutual understanding and cooperation building resource; volitional communication needed for the group to cope with difficulties; and the group stress tolerance.

Figure 1. Special health group numbers versus the total student population for the study period

We used a special sociometric method to rate the interpersonal relationships in the groups and take timely administrative decisions to transfer students from one group to another as required for the individual progress. A special attention was given to the teamwork building aspects – from the initial diffuse state to the consolidated team. These managerial and practical solutions were geared to encourage active and effective communication and cooperation in the groups for success of the joint mission, goals and individual progress agendas of the group members.

Conclusion. The study found that the university was successful in establishing a special customizable learning environment for the special health group with the individual progress trajectories. Prudently combined and customized learning and cognitive methods and tools, with good cooperation and support from the university management helped optimize the physical education service for students with disabilities and special health needs. We composed the student groups using a sociometric method to facilitate the individual progresses and personality improvement agendas based on constructive teacher-student communication and cooperation in the groups. The new pedagogical communication and cooperation encouragement methods and styles have helped the students to mobilize their individual resources for success. The independent academic physical education progress tests of 2017-18 rated the special health group high on average, with 82%, 15% and 3% of the special health group students tested excellent, good and satisfactory on the physical education progress scale, respectively.

References

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