M.Y. Shchennikova
V.F. Kostyuchenko
Lesgaft National State University of Physical Education, Sport and Health, St. Petersburg

Keywords: staff training, competency building approach, Federal State Education Standards (FSES), national educational traditions.

Background. Issues of professional education improvement in the physical culture domain have lately been subject for discussions with many aspects being in focus. Much is being written on the issues and by many authors, and it is not unusual to see the discussions making circles around the problem of whether or not “red tomato” is a more legitimate term than “tomato red”. The research reports are peppered with awkward terms mimicked from English vocabulary and this artificial constructs are applied to build up allegedly new “research” areas. Why not turn around and back to the best national experience? It should be reminded that it was the national theory and practice of competitive training well established back in early 1950ies and the professional physical education system basically formed by the mid-1930ies that were subject to detailed studies and copying attempts the world over. “Look back to your roots”, as the popular proverb says.

Objective of the study was to perform a historical analysis of the national professional education development process in the physical education and sports sector.            

Study results and discussion. If we now look back to the sources of national physical education, we will realize that the personnel training for the sector was primarily based on a practical and active physical culture experience and developments in the natural sciences dominated by the biological ones. Looking further back, we should note that by the end of the XIX century Russia had neither a government regulation system nor central government agencies to train people who could at least realize and appreciate benefits of physical education, to say nothing of special physical training methods or manuals at that time. Physical education was almost totally neglected in all sectors of the national school system. In a few exclusive cases, the primitive education process was put under control of ignorant people (P.F. Lesgaft, 1951). In this situation it was P.F. Lesgaft who first took advantage of the Western European experience of physical education staff training, customized it for the Russian environment and traditions and issued its “School children’s physical education manual” (1888). Furthermore, he headed the “Training courses for female leaders and trainers of physical exercises” which included courses of anatomy, chemistry, mechanics, physiology, movement theory, physical education history, hygiene, mathematics, physics, practical team sports and physical exercises, psychology, teaching, hand labour, drawing, draughtsmanship and singing. Later on, world history and history of literature were added to the curricula. P.F. Lesgaft believed that a physical education leader must “... be a highly educated person (and this is a rule of thumb for everybody having any relation to teaching) fully proficient in his subject; he must be fully aware of the natural bodily needs of young people; and, above all, he must be a totally disciplined and restrained person to gracefully control every his action” (1901, p. 317-318). It should be recognized that these qualification criteria for a physical education specialist are still highly relevant nowadays.

The efforts to apply physical culture as a driver for physical education and sports in the country resulted in the positive experience being accumulated and generalized and the relevant practical recommendations worked out. The empirical data gathering and analyses gave the means to make the first attempts to put together basics of the sport training theory and practice followed by fundamental of a physical culture theory being found. Based on this primary developments, B.A. Kotov (1916), for instance, proved the need for three training periods being scheduled in an annual training cycle.

In 1920ies, the national physical culture institutions designed their curricula of general scientific disciplines largely based on the “transplants” from courses of medical and pedagogical establishments. There was no physical education theory whatsoever at that time nor theories and practices in specific sport disciplines applied as academic subjects in those days. The physical education specialists were trained in an expressly academic manner based on the knowledge accumulated by the natural sciences by that time. The studies were dominated and guided by purely theoretical knowledge while the applied theoretical and practical methods to support the sport and technical disciplines were lagging far behind.

Further practical data accumulation efforts backed by achievements of naturalists gave the means for Georges Duperron (1925) to put together his theory of physical culture that was later on improved and discussed in research studies by A.D. Novikov, L.P. Matveyev, V.N. Platonov, Y.F. Kuramshin and many others. The scientific community soon came to the understanding that the importance of medical and biological sciences for the theory and practice of physical culture cannot be overestimated, but the physical educators training process should be designed so as to cultivate and arm the students with the applied professional knowledge and skills of high priority for the didactic practice and sport education disciplines.

The higher education establishment at that time provided multisided training to the sport specialists without a narrow specialization by specific disciplines. However, the large-scale physical culture movement in the nation with physical education being ranked among the top priority elements of the national education system resulted in the meaning and importance of the physical education system being accepted as by society. Later on, an emphasis was made on the efforts to find the ways for further specialization (profiling) of the specialist training system.

It was found in the process that physical education is specific in the sense that it requires knowledge of fundamental human studies duly combined with profound and multisided physical education and practical training of the students. This approach was implemented in the academic curricula of 1950-90ies. However, when the system was reformed as required by the State Education Standards for the Higher Professional Education system, the educational programs retained only “Special Disciplines” and “Disciplines within Speciality” components, without detailed breakdowns of the disciplines and their labour intensities, and this was the reason for the reform being of negative effect on the practical training of the university graduates. As things now stand, the sector management understands that if the modern competency building approach is designed to train top-quality specialists for the physical culture and sports sector rather than doctrinaires, due priority should be given to the key practices and specific sport education disciplines geared to shape up an integrated vision of profession with due inter-subject connections being established.

Different issues of professional education improvement in the physical culture sector are being broadly discussed at the relevant research and practical forums and in printed publications. For the last 5 years, most of the publications in the leading sector edition “Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury” considered a variety of issues related to the Federal State Education Standards (FSES) being applied to build up due competences [6, 7] and rate these competences [8,12], plus the issues of specific methodologies being applied in specific disciplines [2, 11]. Publications on conceptual issues with concern to formation of the professional education system in the national physical culture and sports sector have been much more seldom in fact; they mostly explored issues of the level-specific education; the research and education activity integration [5]; content and focuses of modern physical education [3]; variations in the physical culture and sports sector positioning in the knowledge/ science/ economic activity classifiers; the need for professional education being modernized on a systemic basis etc. Different issues of the national traditions being kept up in the sector specialist training process are being broadly discussed by the relevant Russian and international forums [9].

Practical experience of the Federal State Education Standards (FSES) implementation for the last 5 years; multiple updates of the educational and practical provisions pursuant to the revisions of the legal framework for the national educational system; and discussions of the top priority problems in the sector specialist training process by the academic communities of the physical culture universities forming the relevant education-and-practical associations – have made it possible to establish today a universal multilevel training system for the Aggregate Profiles Group 49.00.00 – Physical Culture and Sports. The current efforts to retain the integrity of the professional education system in the national physical culture and sports sector under the increasingly frame structure of the Federal State Higher Education Standards may be successful conditional on the general professional competences are well designed to cover the education level on the whole. The bachelor-level competences will be dominated by practicality of education; personal empirical experience in the subject physical education and sport activity; due knowledge of the processes in the human body in the physical education and sport activity; and understanding of the role of physical culture as a basis for a healthy lifestyle. General professional competences customized for every speciality will address the specific requirements to the professional performance as provided by the expanded list of specialities in the physical culture and sports sector revised in the period of 2000-5 to respond to the changes in the social and economic conditions in the country. At the master-level, the list of general professional competences will be determined by the updates in the professional missions with an emphasis on the general responsibilities as provided by the professional standards of the 7^th qualification level. The specialist fitness rates at the master’s level will be focused on the specialist’s ability for analytical activity based on integration of knowledge in different relevant sciences; research accomplishments; and reasonable decision-making ability in the physical education and sport activity management process as provided by the education standards of the curriculum. The Federal State Higher Education Standards are interconnected with the professional standards on a cross-sectional basis, i.e. the educational process to master general labour functions under a professional standard is designed to cover different education courses. Detailed process specifications and educational paths within every education course in their connection with the labour market demands, as set forth by the valid professional standards, will be duly provided by the guiding curricula and basic professional curricula applied by specific educational institutions.

Discussions of the coachers’ training issues [1] are limited by the provisions of the Aggregate Groups of Specialities and Courses 49.00.00 – Physical Culture and Sports for the bachelor-level Sport Course. This approach, in fact, implies the academic curricula content being duplicated in different education courses with the potential professional competences of the graduates being narrowed. As things stand at this juncture, the new professional standard for the general educator has narrowed the professional competences of graduates with the negative consequences for the physical education teacher’s missions.

Lesgaft National State University gives a top priority in the content of the academic Physical Education course to the sport specialist education on the whole and coaches’ training in particular; advanced training of service specialists to serve the sport equipment and implements; customizing the curricula to the labour market demands as addressed by the relevant professional standards; and high quality of education in the sport education disciplines with an emphasis on the vocational sports. In the educational conditions setting process, due priority is given to the human resource development initiatives with a special emphasis on recruitment of experienced practitioners and sector management experts; and the efforts to use every opportunity for the educational process integration with practical science and sports, including those provided by the Kavgolovo Education and Training Base. At present 75% of the students in the national higher physical education and sports education system are trained under the Vocational Sport Training Course curricula.

To give an example of the sector-demand-oriented initiatives, we would mention the new (introduced in 2014) Sport Implements Servicing and Sport Equipment Operation and Maintenance curricula that include the relevant optional disciplines within the frame of the Vocational Sport Training education under the bachelor-level Physical Education course, with the relevant advanced education curriculum scheduled for 72 hours. In the educational process under the curricula, due competences will be formed to secure the graduates’ fitness for labour functions under the professional standard for a Sport Implements and Equipment Operation and Maintenance Service Specialist. Special education is now provided at the “VeloSphynx” Cycle Sport Centre under leadership of A.A. Kuznetsov, Honorary Coach of the USSR and Russia; and at the Kavgolovo Education and Training Base under leadership of M.G. Sibirtsev, Honorary Coach of Russia that has worked for the last 15 years as a practical engineering coach of the national Russian ski racing team.

The content of the master-level education curriculum in the Sport course is compliant with requirements of the valid Professional Standard “Coach” that spells out requirements to the general and specific labour responsibilities and functions for the 7^th qualification level. The valid Professional Standard “Coach” was designed to ensure succession of the bachelor and master’s curricula and to provide for the following competences in the transition to the 7^th qualification level: improve the training process; manage competitive performance of elite athletes; provide analyses-based consulting services; manage performance of picked competitive teams; and replenish sport reserves for the picked teams.

Conclusion. The present education process is still based on vocational sports whilst the students’ academic education activity is being updated in line with the fundamental concept of the national specialist education system for the physical culture and sport sector.

The study was performed under the State Order by the Federal State Higher Education Establishment Supported by Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education P.F. Lesgaft National State University, St. Petersburg, for the research report “Improvement of the professional education system for the national physical culture and sports sector”, pursuant to the Ministry of Sports of Russia Order #318 of April 07, 2015.

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Corresponding author: mshchennikova@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents findings of a historical analysis of the national professional education in the physical education and sports sector in the context of the authors’ practical experience in and viewpoints on the professionalism-focused policies being further pursued by the national education system. Objective of the study was to perform a historical analysis of the national professional education development process in the physical education and sports sector. The national education system has always applied vocational sports as a basis for the training process and students’ education activity, and a top priority has been given to this concept by the national specialist training system for the physical culture and sports sector.