Dr.Sc.Hist., Professor I.V. Maslova¹
PhD, Associate Professor I.E. Krapotkina¹
PhD, Associate Professor V.A. Martynova^2
1Yelabuga Institute of Kazan Federal University, Yelabuga
²Kuban State University of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism, Krasnodar

Keywords: Kazan Educational District, custodian, students’ health improvement, leisure time education, physical education and health activity.

Background. The human resource building policies to secure the further economic progress of the nation in the XXI century give a high priority to the student population health protection and improvement issues. In this context the modern national educational system gives a special attention to the academic physical education improvement projects with an emphasis on their cultural, patriotic and socializing aspects. To effectively rate progress of the academic physical education system, we should analyze its historical development statistics in view of the influential historical and political events and projects in the region. The study subject is particularly topical in the context of the national and regional student health improvement projects in the Kazan region.

Objective of the study was to analyze the historical succession and connections of the past academic physical education experience of the late XIX to early XX century versus the modern policies and practices in the educational sector.

Methods and structure of the study. The methods applied for the study purposes were as follows: analysis, generalization, survey, comparative historical and retrospective study methods.

Study results and discussion. Analyses of the situation in the modern national educational system shows that the physical education policies are ranked top priority, with a special attention to the practical health improvement experience in the children and adolescent educational systems.

In the late educational system of the Russia Empire of the XIX-XX century with its educational districts the key role was played by a custodian i.e. the regional authorized representative of the People’s Education Ministry fully responsible for the educational and cultural process management. It was the responsibility of the imperial custodians, including the Kazan Educational District ones, to secure due succession and harmony of the educational policies and practices across the Russian Empire to supervise and manage operations of their reporting government institutions on the whole and educational establishments in particular. It was traditional for every custodian to give a special priority to some special field in the educational and cultural process. In this study we have overviewed the service records of V.A. Popov and N.K. Kulchitsky who ranked the students’ health improvement policies among the core priorities of their custodian services.

Vasily A. Popov, Kazan Educational District Custodian in the period of January 18, 1895 to July 30, 1899, gave a special attention to the off-class educational and cultural projects including outdoor physical education practices. In winter time the students were practicing mostly skating and sledging, and in the summer time gardening, vegetable growing and bee-keeping [3, p.6]. The local educational authorities were actively supported by the Educational District management in the relevant off-class projects with a special emphasis on both the health improvement and physical education and labour culture building aspects.

N.K. Kulchitsky, Kazan Educational District Custodian in the period of February 27, 1912 to June 30, 1914, was particularly successful in the modern educational process management methods that he applied in every school under his control, with a special attention to the aesthetic, artistic and physical education models. In every gymnasium and vocational establishment he cultivated arts and gymnastics and encouraged interschool sport competitions, musical and humanities parties, expositions of students’ artistic pieces, excursions etc. [5]. In his capacity of physician, N.K. Kulchitsky gave a special priority to the health service system in the primary and secondary educational establishments within the District [4, pp. 1-3]. We may reasonably suppose now that the Educational District management gave a special priority to the health policies to respond to the-then general sanitary and hygienic situation in the country, and these projects were enthusiastically supported by the People’s Education Ministry.

The practical accomplishments of the Kazan Educational District in the period of N. Kulchitsky’s service were highly appreciated as verified by the recognition of the District leadership by the two national exhibitions. The State Parliament and State Council approved a draft law for the 1913 National Hygienic Standards Exhibition in Petrograd with contributions from many leading schools. The main objective of the event was to encourage the health policies and improve the health standards across the Russian Empire, with a special attention to the school hygienic standards [4, p. 24]. N.K. Kulchitsky encouraged every district educational establishment to join the exhibition with its photographic materials, plans, models, teaching aids, samples etc.; plus the following background information: school development plans; lights and healthy educational environment in the classes; hygienic curricula; physical progress and morbidity rates in the classes; physical education methods and models; school cleaning standards; school meals and water quality control standards; health and sanitary service and control systems; special medical aid to students; hygienic standards in the school educational process; boarding schools; hygienic standards for the teaching staff  etc. [4, p. 25]. The 1913 National Hygienic Standards Exhibition jury acknowledged the progress of the Kazan Educational District and awarded its management with a diploma “For the outstanding progress of the District physical education system” [2, p. 239].

Furthermore, the so-called Sokol Gymnastics system dominated by the practices with different apparatuses, mass artistic gymnastics and pyramids was particularly popular in the late XIX to early XX century. This gymnastics system was designed by Miroslav Tyrs (1832–1884), Professor of Prague University, and made it first steps in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The system made a special emphasis on movement aesthetics, beauty, artistic merits, freedom and perfection of gymnastic routines. The rules of Sokol Gymnastics competitions and terminology had been developed by the late XIX century. Later on it was of enormous effect on the evolution of the artistic and aesthetic models in the European gymnastics. The Sokol Gymnastics was particularly popular in the Russian military educational establishments in the late XIX to early XX century.

The above historical records demonstrate the great accomplishments of the Kazan Educational District in the late XIX to early XX century in the physical education policies and practices, with the educational and physical education standards across the district being very high at that time. It should be emphasized that the core mission of the system was to secure the multisided academic progress of the students with the key role played by the physical education curriculum.

Now if we analyze the health and physical education situation of the late XIX to early XX century versus the modern situation in the sector, we should first mention the differences in the health and physical education service models applied at educational establishments, their design and content. Presently the national school educational system gives a priority to the following educational components: students’ spiritual and ethical development and culture; socializing and vocational identification; environmental culture; healthy and safe lifestyles; and heath correction and improvement elements. The hygienic standards applied to the students and teachers are specified in the educational and cultural process design standards and requirements.

The health improvement and correction system basics formed by the educational system of the Russian Empire in the late XIX to early XX century have been largely inherited by the modern children and adolescent health improvement models applied in the national educational system. Presently the system applies multiple health technologies including the A.N. Strelnikova and K.P. Buteyko breathing exercises; Kofler-Lobanova-Lukyanova breathing system; verbal elements assisted gymnastic practices; yoga basics; qigong basics; non-traditional gymnastic tools; S.M. Bubnovsky’s remedial gymnastics; Pilates training model; K. Cooper and E. Howley jogging and walking system; body shaping models; Callanetics; different types of aerobics including high-impact, rope skipping, slide, fitball, terrarobics, dance aerobics, step aerobics, water aerobics etc.; therapeutic swimming; cross-country skiing; A.A. Umanskaya’s acupuncture technology; M.I. Chistyakova’s mental conditioning gymnastics; Crossfit; and many other training models and technologies applicable on an off-class basis in the educational system.

Presently the Tatarstan Republic reports 6399 institutions and 169 Children and Youth Sport Schools providing modern health and physical education services; with the student population engaged in physical education and sports on a systemic basis reported at 80% of the total young population; with 87 thousand children served by the republican Children and Youth Sport Schools.

On the whole, the Republic holds a large-scale physical education and sport infrastructure accessible for different population groups including 10,588 sport facilities (stadiums with seats, football fields, gyms, indoor ice fields, indoor track and field arenas, cycling tracks, swimming pools, ski bases, shooting ranges, rowing bases and channels etc.). The regional physical education and sport infrastructure is presently served by 9 thousand education specialists, with the sector services designed to give special preferences in the health and active recreation services to the young generation.

Conclusion. The study shows the great progress made by the physical education and health system of the Kazan Educational District management in the late XIX to early XX century and underlines that the health improvement and correction system basics formed by the educational system of the Russian Empire were largely inherited by the modern children and adolescent health improvement models applied by the national educational system. The comparative analysis of the past youth health and physical education experience versus the modern progress trends in the sector found many similarities in the policies and practices to advance the harmonized physical development, leisure-time activity and mental and physical trainings to make the youth fully fit for the effective labour and defence of the Motherland.

References

1. Otchet o realizatsii meropriyatiy gosudarstvennoy programmy ‘Razvitie molodezhnoy politiki, fizicheskoy kultury i sporta v Respublike Tatarstan na 2014-2020 gody’ za 2015 god (31.03.2016) [Report on implementation of the state program ‘Development of youth policy, physical education and sports in the Republic of Tatarstan for 2014-2020’ for 2015 (31.03.2016)]. Available at: http://mdms.tatarstan.ru/rus/otcheti-o-realizatsii-gosudarstvennoy-progr...
2. Iz zhizni Kazanskogo uchebnogo okruga [From the life of Kazan educational district]. Vestnik obrazovaniya i vospitaniya, 1914, no. 2, P. 239.
3. NA RT (Nats. arkh. Respubliki Tatarstan). F. 92. Op. 1. D. 22384. L. 1; NA RT. F. 92. Op. 1. D. 24540. L. 6 [NA RT (National archives of the Republic of Tatarstan). F. 92. Op. 1. D. 22384. L. 1; NA RT. F. 92. Op. 1. D. 24540. L. 6].
4. NA RT. F. 160. Op. 1. D. 1626. Ll. 1-25 [NA RT. F. 160. Op. 1. D. 1626. Ll. 1-25].
5. Sm.: Nikolay Konstantinovich Kulchitski [Nikholai Konstantinovich Kulchitsky]. Vestnik obrazovaniya i vospitaniya, 1914, no. 7-8, P. 695; NA RT. F. 92. Op. 2. Dd. 15984, 16888, 19448.

Corresponding author: ikrapotkina@mail.ru

Abstract

The study analyzes the historical (late XIX to early XX century) experience of the Kazan Educational District in the students’ health improvement domain, with a special attention to the custodians’ service and special projects of the Kazan Educational District Management designed to encourage the school physical education and active leisure-time sports. Objective of the study was to analyze the historical succession and connections of the past physical education experience of the late XIX to early XX century versus the modern policies and practices in the sector. The methods applied for the study purposes were as follows: analysis, generalization, survey, comparative historical and retrospective study methods. The study data and analyses give the grounds to believe that in the late XIX to early XX century the Kazan Education District custodians gave a high priority to the most effective actions and projects to facilitate the health services provided by the school administrations and to support the students’ interest in the school physical education service. The students’ health improvement programs are still highly prioritized in the modern Russian educational system, with preschool, school, secondary, higher and advanced educational establishments contributing to the national physical education and sports development policies and practices in the Russian Federation.