PhD, Associate Professor V.V. Kadakin
Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evsevev, Saransk

Keywords: pedagogical institute, education specialist training centre, physical education and sport sector.

Background. The active growth and progress of the physical culture and sport movement in the country for the last few years has put to the forefront the need for good education specialists being trained for the national physical education and sports sector; and it naturally involves the need in the existing physical education and sport specialists training system being modernized and the existing education specialists being subject to advanced training courses.

In the context of the present situation in the physical education and sports sector, the national universities give a high priority to the initiatives to train good education specialists of new generation capable of providing highly efficient health protection and physical education services in educational establishments of different types.

Presently more than 800 full-time students from the Republic of Mordovia and other Russian regions and CIS countries take course at the Pedagogical Education Department majoring in “Physical Education” and “Physical Education and Life Safety” under the “Physical Education and Sport Education” Master Training Program; the “Physical Education: Vocational Sport Training” Master Training Program; and the “Natural Science Basics of Physical Education and Sports” Master Training Program.

The University has established facilitating environment for successful education and professional improvement of the educational, physical education and sport specialists at its facilities. Presently the University operates a modern sport infrastructure including: a skiing base; a sport-and-recreation camp “Olimp” ("Olympus"), an academic building with special gyms for artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, boxing, martial arts and weightlifting; four combined-events venues for team sports; fitness-hall; shooting range etc. Furthermore, the University has just commissioned a brand new National Sports Complex “Olympiyskiy” equipped with the necessary sport facilities and equipment. The Complex has at its premises a workout gym; inertial training simulators; basketball/ volleyball field; ice-hockey field; futsal field; two tennis courts; running tracks; football field; hurdles track; shot-put sector; and a steeplechase venue. As provided by the infrastructure construction project, a swimming pool will be soon put in operation [1].

The University curricula are designed to secure deep theoretic knowledge, broad toolkit of practical skills, multisided physical fitness and due skill level of the students. The high quality of education is guaranteed by the highly knowledgeable academic staff including 3 Doctors of science, 23 PhDs; High Achievers of Physical Culture; High Achievers of People’s Education of the RF; Honorary Higher Professional Education Specialists of the Republic of Mordovia; and talented coaches.

The MSPI management gives a special priority to innovations to shape up and develop a variety of practical skills in the future physical education teachers and coaches [3]. The University research teams develop and implement modern training components based on interactive education technologies, multimedia didactic tools, group training elements etc.

http://druzhina.su/images/cms/thumbs/pozhizni_so_sportom_500_auto.jp

To further contribute to the quality of future teachers’ practical training, the University works in close cooperation with the general educational establishments of the Republic of Mordovia that readily provide their facilities to the Physical Education Department students for the practical educational probations [4]. In addition, the bachelors and masters are offered every opportunity to build up their arsenals of theoretic knowledge and practical skills highly valuable for a physical education teacher and a sport coach through special advanced education programs; at the moment there are more than twenty such programs available only for the Physical Education Department students, with the lists of the advanced education program being expanded every year and their attraction for the students being notably on the rise [7].

One of the key MSPI concepts of the educational specialist training for the national physical education and sports sector is the education process being combined with research and analytical activity [5]. It is the Regional Research and Practice Centre for Physical Education and Healthy Lifestyle that acts as an important link to connect the University science with the practical sports [6]. The Centre was established back in 2011 to accumulate and channel the research resources of the University in the physical education and sports sector, and since then it has been a project site for the 4 major projects of the Federal Target Program “Research and Education Personnel for Innovative Russia” for the period of 2009-13; and for the State Order to the University [3]. Facilities of the Centre are used today by the academic staff, post-graduates and students for research experiments supported by Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University joint grant financing under the “Modern University Students’ Health and Body Functionality Testing Technologies” Project;  and the “Psycho-physiological and Somatic Health Screening Test based on the Computerized Hardware and Software “Health Express” and “PsychoTest” Systems” Project. The Projects are designed to generate the key data to assess potential benefits of the modern instrumental health and body functionality testing systems in application to university students in the academic education process; and prospects for implementation of the modern health and body functionality testing practices in the academic education process. Moreover, the Centre develops a monitoring system to keep track of the athletic performance rates and their variations and work out a set of test standards to rate the student’s fitness levels. The Centre’s research and innovative efficiency was verified by its performance accounts of 2015 that report 5 monographs, 13 teaching aids and practical manuals, 1 dictionary, and more that 170 study reports in different special editions, including 11 articles in the journals of the Web of Science and Scopus databases, 18 articles in the journals recommended by the Supreme Attestation Commission of the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF; 4 curricula; and 3 databases registered with the Russian Patent Service.

It should be emphasized in this context that the resources of the Regional Research and Practice Centre for Physical Education and Healthy Lifestyle are geared to attain only one major objective – to improve the quality of the education personnel training for the national physical education and sports sector. The Centre provides its facilities and support for experimental studies under diploma projects; research practices of masters and post-graduates; research and practical conferences, workshops, round tables, students’ academic competitions; publications of research reports, educational aids and practical manuals; advanced and refreshment courses for the sport sector personnel etc. It was only for 2015 that the Centre was used for experimental studies under 38 diploma projects with concern to the physical development rating and monitoring and the health and body functionality rating studies in application to university students, children and adolescent students of general education schools and junior athletes from Children’s and Youth Sport Schools.

Findings of the projects and studies performed at the Centre are beneficial for and actively used by the education process management teams and for the physical education and sports popularization initiatives. Based on a variety of innovation approaches, the Regional Research and Practice Centre for Physical Education and Healthy Lifestyle offers consulting services to assist in the health protection and improvement initiatives, including corrective recommendations on special diets, motor activity regimes, physical education and sport practices, sleep-wakefulness patterns, living/ labour/ education/ recreation conditions; and provides individual health lifestyle (HLS) design and management services, including the services customized for the age- and physiology-specific needs of the trainees. Furthermore, the Centre offers special training curricula for coaches and athletes specializing in a variety of sport disciplines; for the practical instructors (under the Advanced Education Program “Physical Education Technologies” and “Sport Training in Vocational Sport”; and Extra-Curriculum Programs “Educational Family Service”, “Physical Qualities Development by Track and Field Sports”, “Gymnastic Exercise Techniques”, “Basketball in the Students’ Physical Education System”; “Physical Education Tools and Methods”; “Physical Education Instructor for Pre-school Educational Establishment” ; “Practical Application Specifics of Physical Practices and Massage to Trainees with Health Disorders”; “Medical and Biological Basics of Life Safety” etc. In addition, the Centre offers special curricula and education technologies for the tourism sector, local history studies, excursion business, adventures and extreme sports etc. It should be emphasized that for the short history of the Centre operations, notable positive changes have been reported in the young people’s attitudes to the values of physical education and sports and the healthy lifestyles, with the range of the physical education and health improvement services provided by the state-owned facilities reported to expand for the period.

We should also mention the “Fitness-University” Health Improvement Centre as one more innovative division within the University system that provides its facilities for the academic training sessions [1]. The Centre is highly popular among the students and academic staff members for the reason that it is not only a purely education and training ground but also a service provider that offers additional health improvement services to the visitors. For the last two years the Centre reports having provided its services to more than 2000 people dominated by the university students.

The MSPI management takes persistent efforts to keep the lead in the innovation initiatives in the national physical education and sports sector. Among other initiatives, MSPI has been active in the All-Russian Physical Culture and Sport Complex “Ready for Labour and Defence” (GTO) implementation process and acts as a GTO implementation hub in the region. Moreover, MSPI has developed and is implementing the “GTO Complex in Life of MSPI” Project with an objective to introduce the updated physical culture and sport GTO Complex customized for the new market-oriented economy and severe competition to: lure every university student and academic staff member to the physical education and sport activity; help make the health agenda and culture fashionable among the young people; and use it as an efficient tool to help the young people get rid of their bad habits and asocial behavioural models [2]. For the last two years, subject to the GTO tests were about 300 educators, post-graduates and academic staff members and more than 2000 MSPI students. The GTO tests were designed and managed by a team of 35 academic staff members of the Physical Education Departments and about 100 volunteer students of MSPI.

Presently Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evsevev is rightfully recognized the leader in the educational specialist training for the national physical education and sport sector in the region. MSPI graduates today dominate among the leading physical education and coaching specialists in the Republic of Mordovia.

Conclusion. The long-term educational, theoretical and practical successful operations of the University, its recognized traditions and vast experience of its academic staff duly equipped with the modern systems, facilities and infrastructure give the means to successfully solve every problem in the national system of education personnel training for the physical education and sports sector.

References

1. Kadakin V.V. Mordovskiy gosudarstvenny pedagogicheskiy institut – flagman razvitiya fizicheskoy kul'tury i sporta v regione (Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute - flagship of development of physical culture and sports in the region) / V.V. Kadakin // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2014. – № 8. – P. 3–5.
2. Kadakin V.V. Opyt Mordovskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta im. M.E. Evsev'eva v realizatsii Vserossiyskogo fizkul'turno-sportivnogo kompleksa «GTO» (Experience of M.E. Evsevev Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute in implementation of Russian physical culture and sport complex "GTO") / V.V. Kadakin, A.V. Shigaev // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2015. – № 8. – P. 10–12.
3. Miroshkin V.V. Po stranitsam letopisi fakul'teta fizicheskoy kul'tury Mordovskogo pedinstituta (Through the pages of the chronicle of Physical Education Faculty of Mordovia Pedagogical Institute) / V.V. Miroshkin, A.V. Kokurin // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2014. – № 8. – P. 6–8.
4. Shukshina T.I. Razvitie sistemy nauchno-issledovatel'skoy deyatel'nosti v pedagogicheskom vuze (Development of system of research activity in pedagogical university) / T.I. Shukshina, P.V. Zamkin // Gumanitarnye nauki i obrazovanie (Humanities and Education). – 2012. – № 2 (10). – P. 13–18.
5. Shukshina T.I. Razvitie sistemy nauchno-issledovatel'skoy i proektnoy deyatel'nosti studentov v usloviyakh mnogourovnevoy sistemy vysshego pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniya (Development of system of research and project activities of students within multilevel system of higher pedagogical education) / T.I. Shukshina, P.V. Zamkin, I.I. Parvatova // Gumanitarnye nauki i obrazovanie (Humanities and Education). – 2013. – № 4 (16). – P. 84–89.
6. Shukshina T.I. Cherez nauchnye issledovaniya – k sportivnym pobedam: iz opyta nauchno-issledovatelэskoy raboty fakul'teta fizicheskoy kul'tury Mordovskogo pedinstituta (Through research - to sports victories: experience of research work of Physical Education Faculty of Mordovia Pedagogical Institute) / T.I. Shukshina, P.V. Zamkin, V.V. Miroshkin // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2014. – № 8. – P. 9–11.
7. Shukshina T.I. Napravleniya aktivizatsii nauchno-issledovatel'skoy raboty studentov kak mekhanizma formirovaniya nauchno-issledovatel'skoy kompetentnosti u pedagogicheskikh kadrov v oblasti fizicheskoy kul'tury i sporta (iz opyta raboty Mordovskogo pedinstituta) (Directions of intensification of research work of students as mechanism of formation of research competency of physical education and sport teachers (from experience of Mordovia Pedagogical Institute) / T.I. Shukshina, P.V. Zamkin, V.V. Miroshkin, L.G. Parshina // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2015. – № 10. – P. 11–13.

Corresponding author: t_i_shukshina@mordgpi.ru

Abstract

Mordovia State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evsevev (MSPI) is highly reputed in the country as a university of strong sport traditions. Physical education teachers and coaches in a variety of sport disciplines have been trained in the institute for the last more than 40 years. For this period, about 5 thousand highly competent physical education, sport and life safety specialists have been trained in MSPI, including Olympic Game Champions (A. Mishin, Greco-Roman wrestling champion; Y. Shvetsov, 3 times London Paralympic Games champion), Olympic Game prize-winners, World and European Champions and winners of many other top international competitions, namely: D. Nishegorodov, V. Vasilyev, I. Stankina, R. Rasskazov, Y. Kurina and many others. At the present time, there are 23 MSPI graduates being qualified Honoured Coaches of Russia in different sport disciplines; and 7 others qualified Honoured Physical Education Specialists of the Republic of Mordovia. As things now stand, MSPI is the only university in the Republic that provides physical education and sport specialist education services and quality theoretical and practical training services for the regional and national physical education and sport sector. Every year, more than 800 full-time students from the Republic of Mordovia and other Russian regions and CIS countries take course at the Pedagogical Education Department majoring in Physical Education and Physical Education and Life Safety under the “Physical Culture and Sport Education” Master Training Program; “Physical Education: Vocational Sport Training” Master Training Program; and the “Natural Science Basics of Physical Education and Sports” Master Training Program. Practical training, innovative education methods and special education courses duly combined with the theoretic training and practical activity are the key elements of the university curricula for future physical education teachers and coaches. Today MSPI graduates hold leading positions as educators and coaches in the physical education and sports sector of the Republic of Mordovia.