Expert community’s world outlook platform versus national policies for academic physical education service: comparative analysis

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Postgraduate A.V. Sergeev
Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow

Keywords: academic physical education, higher education, academic sports, Russia’s national policies.

Introduction. The conventional wisdom is that the goal of the subject "Physical Education" in the higher educational institution is the formation of physical education of the student's personality [1]. If we consider students as an object of management, which purpose is the formation of physical education of their personality, then the subject of this management at the last stage within the higher educational institution is the teaching staff which implements the Physical education process. These teachers are nothing but the last link in the chain, conducting the state policy of the Russian Federation on the formation of academic physical education. In this regard, their value orientations and representations have a decisive influence on the effectiveness of "purposeful solution of problems which expresses the dominant priorities and values of the use of power", which, according to Solovyov [4], represents the state policy in the relevant sphere.
Let us define the ideological platform of the expert community in the field of formation of academic physical education as a set of value representations, orientations and opinions of the teaching staff implementing the physical education process. If this ideological platform contradicts the existing state course, then in the management model, described above, the state, being the main subject of management, has an obstacle in the form of an additional task of changing the world outlook of the relevant expert community. This can be resolved either by replacing the community itself or by rapprochement of the positions of the community and the state. Anyhow, the qualitative characteristics of management are reduced due to the need to solve additional problems. It becomes obvious that the congruence of the" dominant priorities and values of the use of power" of the state and the ideological platform of the expert community in the formation of physical education of students is a necessary condition for the effective implementation of the relevant state policy.
Methods and structure of the study. To study the ideological platform of the expert community in the formation of academic physical education, an expert survey at the Department of physical education and sports of Lomonosov Moscow state University (MSU) was conducted. This Department was organized in 1933. Being one of the first departments of physical education of higher educational institutions of Russia it is also one of the largest, both in the number of teaching staff and the number of students who are taught. The expert group included 48 employees from among the teaching staff of the Department of physical education and sports of MSU. Among the main characteristics of the expert group are: 8 years – is the minimum work experience of an expert at MSU for a teacher of physical education, the maximum - 58 years, the average experience - 25.4 years; 18 experts are responsible for the physical education and sports at faculties of MSU, 18 - for the sport teams of MSU; 5 – are the chairmen of educational and methodical commissions of the Department. The survey was conducted in the form of an individual interview. The comparison of the ideological platform of the selected expert community and the state policy of the Russian Federation on the formation of academic physical education was carried out on two aspects: a view on the target of academic physical education and on the measures necessary to achieve it.
Results and discussion. The answers to the question "What is necessary to improve the system of physical education and student sports at MSU?" were structured in five categories. The percentage of the number of experts who made a judgement in the relevant category is shown in the table.

Table 1. Measures to improve the system of physical education and student sports.

Answer category

Percentage of experts

To improve the quality of sports base (infrastructure and equipment)

83 %

To increase the salaries of the teaching staff

25 %

Political will of the leadership

23 %

To improve the quality of the educational process (to improve the professional qualities of the teaching staff, to improve the curriculum)

21 %

To carry out activities aimed to form students’ interest in physical education and sports (competitions, encouragement, promotion)

19 %

Obviously, the view of the expert community is that the improvement of sports infrastructure is a priority task to improve the system of physical education and student sports. This task is also set in a number of normative acts, which are the source of the state policy of the Russian Federation in the field of physical education of students. Such documents are: the strategy of development of physical education and sports in Russia for the period up to 2020  (the strategy of development of physical education and sports), the concept of long-term socio-economic development of Russia for the period up to 2020  (the concept of LTSED), the concept of student sports development in Russia for the period up to 2025  (the concept of SSD).
The demand to increase the salary of the teaching staff of higher educational institutions is reflected in the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation № 597 of 07.05.2012 «On measures to implement the state social policy». The state program of the Russian Federation "Development of physical education and sports"  (the state program of development of physical education and sports) considers "the creation of an effective system of remuneration of employees of institutions providing services in the field of physical education and sports " as one of the expected results. A similar task is presented by the concept of LTSED as one of the directions of development of the mass physical education and sports system.
As for the political will, it is determined by the presence of a sustainable value choice of the country's leadership in this matter and the extensive regulatory framework governing this area [3, 5].
The issues of improving the professional level of teachers and improving the academic physical education curriculum are affected by the state program of development of physical education and sports. They are also presented among the main objectives of the strategy of development of physical education and sports and the concept of SSD.
"Development of the system of mass sports events and sports competitions" is allocated in a separate direction of development of the system of mass physical education and sports within the concept of LTSED. The state program of development of physical education and sports is focused on the increase of the percentage of student mass sports events and sports competitions included in the Unified calendar plan of interregional, all-Russian and international mass sports events and sports competitions. Improvement of the system of student sports competitions, information support of student sports are presented in the list of the main directions of implementation of the concept of SSD and the strategy of development of physical education and sports.
The question "What is the main goal you set, conducting training sessions on physical education with students?"- received the following distribution by categories of answers. The percentage of the number of experts who made a judgement in the relevant category is shown in the table.

Table 2. The purpose of the activity at physical education lessons with the students.

Answer

Percentage of experts

To form motivational-value attitude to physical education and sports

48 %

To improve students ' health

44 %

To form physical qualities and motor skills

17 %

Other (to socialize, not to injure, to prepare for professional work)

12 %

Teach a sport

10 %

To give theoretical knowledge in physical education and sports

6 %

These results are quite consistent with the state policy of the country. The strategy of development of physical education and sports and the state program of development of physical education and sports both determine the targets of their implementation. These include, in particular, the proportion of students systematically engaged in physical education and sports in the total number of students. Taking into account the fact that compulsory physical education classes are implemented only within the first two or three years of baccalaureate, even the entire involvement of this group of students in systematic physical activity and sports does not guarantee the achievement of the expected by the strategy of development of physical education and sports by 2020 80% of students systematically engaged in physical education and sports in the total number of students. The growth of indicators is possible only in the case of formed motivational-value attitude to physical education and sports and the creation within higher educational institutions of appropriate necessary conditions for independent extracurricular activities.
The goal "to improve students' health" took the second position by the results of the survey of the expert group. Intuitively, this result seems quite predictable. However, none of the regulatory documents that form the state policy in this area, has such a goal or considers it as a task. Health improvement, acceptance of standards of a healthy lifestyle can rather be a consequence of the formed physical education of the student's personality. Nevertheless, the task of public healthsaving is strategic in the state policy of the Russian Federation, as clearly evidenced by the Message from the President to the Federal Assembly on March 1, 2018. There was set a goal to significantly increase the average duration of "healthy, active, full life" [2]. In this regard, such a response of the expert community is also correlated with the state policy of the country.
Conclusion. Summing up the comparison of the ideological platform of the expert community and the state policy of the Russian Federation in the formation of academic physical education, we can state their congruence. This confirms the adequacy of state policy in this area to the current realities, ensures the realization of the necessary condition for its effectiveness, gives grounds for further study of its implementation.

References

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Corresponding author:haymovich@yandex.ru

Abstract
The article analyzes in subjective-objective terms the existing academic physical education system and offers the notion of world outlook platform interpreted as the key values, priorities, knowledgebase and opinions in a specific field. Subject to the study were the current national academic Physical Education development policies versus the expert community’s world outlook platform on the subject – with the idea that the national policies need to be highly compliant with the expert community’s world outlook platform in every matter of the modern academic Physical Education service.
The expert community’s world outlook platform was profiled by an expert opinion poll, with the Physical Education Department faculty members of M.V. Lomonosov Moscow University (n=48) sampled for the poll. The poll generated the key values and priorities of the expert community in the issues of modern academic Physical Education service – that were compared with the key missions, goals, priorities and progress rating criteria set forth by the relevant national academic Physical Education service development policies. The comparative analysis made it possible to outline agreements and disagreements (the degree of congruence) in the expert community’s world outlook platform versus the current national policies on the issues of academic Physical Education service.