Dr.Hab., Professor O.L. Karpova
Postgraduate A.G. Siyutkin
Ural State University of Physical Culture, Chelyabinsk

Keywords: vocational self-determination, informational competency, determinant, Bachelor of Physical Education

Introduction. It is quite natural for the modern information-intensive society that a demand for a new-generation specialist having the relevant professionally and socially valuable qualities is on the rise. The key content of the competency including the physical education and sports related information mining and generation skills and the high proficiency in the relevant information and communication technologies imperative for success in the professional career are viewed in this study as an integrated vocational self-determinant for Physical Culture Department students.

It is in the ongoing transition to the competency-building educational paradigm of the national education system that new requirements to the Bachelor of Physical Education professional training curriculum and informational competency are being established for [5]. The study explores the new-model graduate formation process designed to secure the modern informational competency being attained by the graduates – in the context of the competency-building approach giving a high priority to the vocational self-determination by the trainees.

Objective of the study was to explore the basic content of the modern informational competency viewed as a vocational self-determinant for a Bachelor of Physical Education.

Methods and structure of the study. It should be mentioned first of all that the key terms “vocational self-determination” and “informational competency” have been long in use by psychologists and educators, albeit their interconnection has never been clearly explored – as rightfully noted by A.Y. Nayn in his monograph [6, pp. 79-80] – by the available research literature, despite the fact that this interaction is fairly obvious in itself. This gap appears to be promising for a target study to solve the problem of what should be the basic content of the modern informational competency viewed as a vocational self-determinant for a Bachelor of Physical Education. Let us dwell on the key approaches to the subject matter in more detail.

Analysis of the available study reports with concern to the subject shows that a few reference books give quite comprehensive definitions of “vocational self-determination” [1, 8]. The Russian Pedagogical Encyclopaedia, for instance, defines vocational self-determination as the process of a personal attitude being formed to the vocational labour sector and the relevant career options through the intrapersonal agenda being agreed with the relevant social demands and vocational requirements [8, p. 211].

In the psychological context, the meaning of “vocational self-determination” is interpreted by the relevant Thesaurus [1, pp. 182] as the process for a human being to realize its vocational gifts and their development levels; get an insight into the structure of vocational incentives, knowledge and skills; understand the degree of their compliance with the special requirements to a would-be professional; and appreciate the vocational mission feeling reasonably fit for it and happy with the vocational choice made [1, pp. 182].  It is the Bachelor’s competency that, as has been proved by actual practice, deserves special attention within the range of the above intrapersonal needs and socially valuable vocational demands.

The competency (as a personal vocational self-determinant) development process has been explored by quite a few studies, including those by T.L. Ivanayskaya [4], E.F. Zeer [3], A.Y. Nayn [6], S.V. Trishina [9] et al. The T.L. Ivanayskaya’s dissertation, for instance, makes an emphasis on the vocational self-determination issues coming to the forefront due to the fact that the vocational education quality assessment system is under transition to give a top priority to the “competency” and “dominance of the competency-building approach principles” as the quality assessment categories [4, pp. 3]. We can only support E.F. Zeer [3, pp. 32] in the statement that it is the person itself who should play a key role in the psychological and educational conditions being formed for the vocational self-determination process; and this may be achieved only when the personality obtains necessary competences to take a well-informed vocational self-determination decision. When exploring a set of the key vocational self-determinants, the author makes a special emphasis on the “dynamism of professions” and the negative contribution of mass media organizations that tend to portray professional responsibilities in largely distorted ways [3]. All these considerations and determinants are obviously fairly applicable to the informational competency of a Bachelor of Physical Education. 

The meaning of “informational competency”, as provided by the O.B. Zaytseva’s study, is interpreted as a complex individualized mental asset that integrates the basic theoretical knowledge, practical skills in the sector of innovation technologies and a variety of certain personal qualities [2, pp. 7].

In our study of the basic content of informational competency viewed as the vocational self-determinant for a Bachelor of Physical Education, we were governed by the definition of “informational competency” provided by S.V. Trishin and A.V. Khutorskoy. They consider it as one of the key competencies having objective and subjective sides. The objective side refers to the background social requirements to the modern special professional career. And the subjective side of the specialist’s informational competency may be viewed as the objective side reflected and transformed through and by the specialist’s personality and his/her professional career, with due consideration for his/her motivations to improve and build up the individual background informational competency [9].

Having clarified the definitions of the key terms under the study, we analyzed the valid Federal State Education Standards of Higher Education (FSESHE) system item 49.03.01 – Physical Education [6]. The analysis gave us the means to highlight the key professional missions and basic content of the Bachelor’s of Physical Education informational competency imperative for the modern information-intensive environment. Given on Diagram 1 hereunder are the top priority vocational missions of the trainee’s informational competency development process, with an emphasis on the scientific research, cultural and elucidation activities.

Diagram 1. Professional missions of Bachelor of Physical Education in the modern information- and education-intensive physical education environment

These missions are rated as basic by the valid Federal State Education Standards of Higher Education; and it is these missions that form a basis, as demonstrated by the study, for the informational competency and, hence, facilitate a vocational self-determination decision being made by a Bachelor of Physical Education.

Based on the analysis of the valid FSESHE, the study identifies the basic content of the informational competency of a future Bachelor of Physical Education. It is the FSESHE that spells out every constituent (corresponding to the relevant competency) of the informational competency within the frame of the academic Physical Education specialty. In addition to knowledge and skills, the informational competency covers the relevant abilities and personal/ business qualities. And it is the vocational self-determination of the trainees that is given a special attention to in the study. It should be noted that the same idea is addressed in the valid legislative and regulatory framework [7].

Therefore, the informational competency is prioritized by the present study as a determinant and a core idea of the vocational self-determination of a Bachelor of Physical Education. The competency development and realization process is largely determined by an active attitude of the students to the education and informational competency development process.

Based on the content analysis of the definitions of “vocational self-determination” and “informational competency” and special requirements to the Bachelor of Physical Education training process, the study identifies the following basic constituents thereof: information generation ability in the physical education and sport sector; proficiency in the relevant information and communication technologies and professional activity; consideration (reflection) ability; and proficiency in modern education, personality development and self-development technologies. These basic content was tested by practical application of the authors’ informational competency development methodology viewed as a vocational self-determinant for a Bachelor of Physical Education.

The methodology designed through the study offers the content and tools for the informational competency formation process being highly efficient to determine the due personality and individual mentality development priorities.

It is the special 38-hour training course “Informational competency as one of the key vocational self-determinants for a Bachelor of Physical Education” that was included in the proposed methodology as its experimental component. The special course was designed based on proactive education, integration and progress principles. The training course content is logically categorized into the following three stages: theory and base information delivery stage; practice-focused stage; and the consideration and assessment stage. Every of these stages has its own semantics and is designed as a totally complete system.

The priority concepts of the above special course may be generally outlined as follows: practice-focused design; discussion-encouraging topics grouped into themes/ sections; emphasis on the interactive education models; and active application of Internet content. These concepts of the special course design, as demonstrated by our practical experience, facilitate a variety of educational problems being solved by the following means: vocational self-determination encouragement efforts; personal experience accumulation process; informational enrichment of the trainees’ personality; vocational self-manifestation algorithms formation process; positive conceptions of the future profession; professional self-education and self-discovery process; accumulation of positive professional self-management experience; and encouragement of the relevant lifestyle formation efforts to meet the relevant social requirements to and demand for a modern Bachelor of Physical Education.

The consideration and assessment stage of the study may be rated as the key one. It is at this stage that the trainee employs his/ her ability to analyse the outcomes of the vocational self-determination process; assess the personal barriers for development, professional capacities and the personal ability to update the informational competency and design the individual educational route. Problem-solving tests, case study technologies, mental ability tests/ improvement trainings will be prudently applied for the stage to be successful.

The special course was adapted for pilot practical application in the standard Bachelor of Physical Education training curriculum of the 3^rd academic year semester V. It should be noted that this pilot practical course made a special emphasis on the basic content of the informational competency viewed as a vocational self-determinant for the trainees.

Conclusion. The special course developed and piloted by the study was found, as verified by the follow-up study data, a quite efficient tool to facilitate the vocational self-determination of a Bachelor of Physical Education. Its implementation will help encourage information-competency-building personality development agenda in the students; facilitate due informational culture being formed to support the vocational self-improvement and self-determination efforts; and mobilize personal resources for self-discovery and vocational self-excelling process. 

References

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Corresponding author: olga.ursei@mail.ru

Abstract
The article identifies the top priority content of the informational competency viewed as a vocational self-determinant for students. Having analyzed the valid Federal State Education Standards of Higher Education (FSESHE), we identified the key professional missions and basic constituents of the Bachelor’s of Physical Education informational competency important for success in the modern information- and education-intensive physical education environment. Presented in the article is the authors’ new methodology that spells out the basic content of the educational tools designed for the information competency being developed in a most efficient format to become a key determinant for the personality and individual mentality development process. A special training course called “Informational competency as one of the key vocational self-determinants for a Bachelor of Physical Education” was included in the proposed methodology as its experimental component. The article presents the design, missions and implementation stages of the special course.