Teaching practice to facilitate technological competency building in future physical education teachers

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N. А. Parshina1
PhD, Associate Professor S.N. Gorshenina1
PhD, Associate Professor S.K. Kudryashova1
1Mordovian State Pedagogical Institute named after M.E. Evseviev, Saransk

Keywords: technological competency, future physical education teacher, teaching practice, customizable module of teaching practice

Background. The national education system reforms give a special role to the practice-prioritizing training models for future teachers [8, 2], with the practical traineeships ranked among the key factors of the individual competitiveness in the modern educational systems with their growing demands for the professional competences and stringent performance standards [4]. Success of the Physical Education teacher’s technological competency building process largely depends on how well the education service mimics the actual professional environment in the traineeship periods [1].
Objective of the study was to analyze benefits of a teaching practice as a tool to facilitate the technological competency building in future Physical Education teachers.
Methods and design of the study. We have analyzed for the purposes of the study the relevant research literature to profile the potential benefits of a teaching practice in the professional trainings of the future teachers. A special emphasis was made on the professional responsibilities mimicking tasks to facilitate formation of technological competency in the future Physical Education teachers. We applied the following methods for the study purposes: reference literature analysis, synthesis, comparative analysis, consolidation of the research materials on the Physical Education teacher training systems; and a training model design.
Results and discussion. Having analyzed the study reports on the subject we found a teaching practice (traineeship) viewed among the key Physical Education teacher training methods [6, 7]. Teaching practice may be defined as the education model geared to give a practical teaching service experience to the trainees to facilitate formation of their professional motivations, competences and performance standards [4]. The practice-prioritizing trainings are known to facilitate academic progress in the professional competences building and performance improvement domains.
Some modern researchers offer customizable teaching practice models as alternatives to the traditional education programs to develop specific professional competences, skills and service tools [3]. We developed in our study a customizable teaching practice module ‘Education technologies for teaching practices’ to develop specific technological competency in the future Physical Education teachers. The modular design of the new model is intended to group the professional competences formation tasks into a few modules, each of them consolidating relatively independent and logically connected goals within a flexible structure that may be filled in with different contents. On the whole we offered the following professional competences building modules to develop specific technological competency in the future Physical Education teachers.
Module 1 of the professional competences building trainings is designed to develop analytical skills to effectively process the education materials; rate the practical performances of the teachers in the teaching practice; and process and summarize their individual practical experiences. The tasks include, for example, the following: summarize the Physical Education teacher’s experience in the general teaching technologies application domain; analyze the Physical Education / health technologies applied in the practical trainings; report the Physical Education teacher’s experience in the progress test technologies; summarize the existing Physical Education session quality rating criteria and offer a Physical Education session rating list as required by the valid FSES for general education schools.
Module 2 of the professional competences building trainings is intended to develop the Physical Education teacher’s design skills to help them draft every component of the educational process. The tasks include, for example, the following: draft a Physical Education session program using the modern health technologies at your option; list potential education project for the school Physical Education service program; draft a technological map for the Physical Education session using a game-driven learning technology; offer an off-class Physical Education lesson program using a problem-solving education technology; draft a sports class project for the beginner schoolchildren groups using the modern age-specific physical education and sport technologies; draft a health physical education mass sport event project using the modern recreation technologies. Such problem-solving tasks were designed to develop the abilities to effectively select and customize the leaning materials for the class/ off-class/ cultural trainings; model the education service and design every element of the professional teaching service.
And Module 3 of the professional competences building trainings is intended to test the Physical Education teacher’s knowledge and skills in practical professional service and form the operational/ performance standards and reflective/ rating abilities within the technological competency components, including the trainees’ work management and control abilities; communication and cooperation skills; practical tests of the class/ off-class training models of their own design; goal-focused process management skills with the ability to prudently apply the most efficient age- and traits-specific didactic technologies; ability to analyze the own progress and trainees’ performances in the professional skills tests. The tasks include, for example, the following: run a Physical Education session; self-rate the performance; run an off-class health-centered Physical Education session etc.
The customizable module of the teaching practice was implemented by the MSPI department teams at general education schools in Saransk. Sampled for the experiment were the 3-year bachelor course students majoring in 44.03.01 Pedagogical Education discipline of the Physical Education curriculum. We used for the study purposes the following empirical methods: teaching performance tests and analyses; expert ratings; and interviews. As a result of the tests, the sample was grouped the Physical Education teacher’s technological competency formation (threshold, basic, high) levels using the relevant rating criteria (motivations and values, cognitive, operational, reflective and rating skills leveling ones): see Table 1 hereunder.

Table 1. Averaged and leveled Physical Education teacher’s technological competency formation rates, %

Technological competency criteria

Technological competency development levels

Threshold

Basic

High

Motivations and values

16,6

54,6

28,8

Cognitive skills

29,5

43,6

26,9

Operational skills

36,3

44,3

19,4

Reflective and rating skills

28,8

44,3

26,9

Average values

27,8

46,7

25,5

The sample technological competency tests showed domination (46.7%) of the basic technological competency development level as a result of the first progress of the future Physical Education teachers in the teaching practice prioritizing professional training and progress test model.
Conclusion. The study showed that a reasonably designed teaching practice gives the means to test professional progress of the beginner Physical Education teachers and bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical competences and skills by the teaching practice prioritizing professional training and progress test model. The model offers the professional skills formation tasks to develop every TC component (including the motivations and values, cognitive, operational, reflective and progress rating components) to open up new opportunities for success of the technological competency building in the future Physical Education teachers’ health- and sports-prioritizing Physical Education practices. Attention of the practitioners will be focused on the technological basics of the modern educational process including the goal-setting, modeling, class/ off-class/ cultural session design, teamwork control, performance control and progress analyzing skills with the education quality tests.

The study was sponsored by the Russian Fundamental Research Foundation under Project #18-013-01084.

References

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Corresponding author: sngorshenina@yandex.ru

Abstract
The modern academic educational systems give a growing priority to school-university partnerships in the efforts to expand the practice-driven education curriculum in the teachers’ training process, with a special attention to the modern education technologies to be mastered by the future teachers for success of their service. The relevant issues are widely considered by the modern studies in the context of the technological competency formation in future teachers, with the professional practices viewed among the key education tools to train the Physical Education teachers to design and implement the most efficient general education, health- and sports-centered Physical Education service models. Objective of the study was to analyze benefits of a teaching practice as a tool to facilitate the technological competency building in future Physical Education teachers. The study showed that a reasonably designed teaching practice gives the means to test professional progress of the beginner Physical Education teachers and bridge the gap between the theoretical and practical competences and skills. Success of the technological competency building in future Physical Education teachers in the school teaching practices will be secured by sets of practical professional practices and solutions to facilitate formation of the desired technological competency in its every component, including the motivations and values and the cognitive, operational, reflective and progress rating components.