V.A. Rodionov, Dr.Hab., director of Teacher training institute of physical culture and sport of MSPU, Moscow

Key words: Teacher training institute of physical culture and sport (TTIPhCS) of SBEI HVE MSPU, physical education teacher, sports trainer, sport psychology, adaptive physical culture, "Teacher of the Year", Olympic games, torchbearer.

This academic year Teacher training institute of physical culture and sport (TTIPhCS) of MSPU celebrates its 15th anniversary since its opening in compliance with the decree of Moscow committee of education in 1999. The established in 1999 institute was consigned to train teachers of physical culture for Moscow schools. The school building constructed in 1964 was given for these purposes.

Today the university building is the same, but the institute has changed a lot from the inside for these years: five specialized sports gyms and two sports grounds, interactive boards and media-projectors in classes, computer classes and an educational and research laboratory, an assembly hall of the dissertation council and a museum of sport glory. All this and much more is being actively used by students and teachers.

The institute has 8 sports and theoretical departments in its structure. These are the departments of: sports games, athletics and swimming, weightlifting and gymnastics, theory and methodology of physical education and adaptive physical culture, theory and methodology of sports training, biomedical disciplines, psychological and pedagogical disciplines. In addition, classes with all students of MSPU are conducted at the common institute department of physical education and university sports activities are supervised by the Sports Club. Both of these units are also parts of TTIPhCS.

The institute feels confident in the Moscow educational environment. The competition up to 10 applicants per place (depending on specialization) is common. It is to be added that a half of them is often masters of sport.

Until recently, the Institute has been training physical education teachers, sports trainers and specialists in the field of adaptive physical culture. In the anniversary academic year another speciality - sport psychology – was added. One can have a Master’s degree in sport psychology by finishing the appropriate master's course. The interest in the new program proved to be great. The first group of students includes masters of sports, a PhD, a principal, a participant of the Russian national bobsleigh team.

For 15 years the Institute has trained over two thousand specialists in the field of physical culture and sport. Among them - Yury Shendanovin, the winner of the Moscow "Teacher of the year" contest, Karina Aznavuryan, head of the college of Olympic reserve, Rushan Sadretdinov, principal of the school of Olympic reserve. Some graduates continue working as teachers at the institute. They defended their theses, became PhDs and continue their successful teaching career.

Over one hundred masters of sport of Russia and world class athletes are students and graduates of TTIPhCS. Quite a lot of students are winners of various international competitions, including world championships. Only in 2008, more than 10 students of TTIPhCS represented Russia at the Olympics, five of them became the winners of the Olympic games.

Not only Russians, but also citizens of other countries learn in the institute. Along with the CIS representatives these are the citizens of Poland and the Republic of Korea, the country which is so far away from Moscow. They value the high level of sport skills of the teachers of TTIPhCS along with their academic professionalism. About 80% of teachers have PhD and doctoral degrees, many of them are the winners of professional contests of various levels, have government awards, including three recipients of the prize of the Russian Federation Government in the field of education.

Teachers of the Institute G.N. Germanov, V.G. Nikitushkin, E.A. Raspopova, V.A. Rodionov and others are the authors of classified textbooks which are used for teaching students in many higher schools of physical culture of the country.

Along with the academic professionalism, the level of sports skills of the TTIPhCS teachers is very high. The teachers of different subjects are participants of Olympic games, national champions, winners and prize-winners of international competitions, national team leaders. It should be noted that associate professor of the department of athletics and swimming I.V. Nazarova was the winner of Moscow Olympic games.

More than 30% of the teaching staff - masters of sports. It is worth mentioning, that not only some students (Irina Skvortsova) and graduates (Yury Shendanovin), but teachers of the Institute (R.M. Galukhin was one of the torchbearers at the Moscow Olympics-80, who was a young athlete then and now he is an associate professor of the department of athletics and swimming and has a Ph.D. degree) were Olympic torchbearers.

One can get qualified higher education and upgrade his/her skills in TTIPhCS. Over 600 teachers of Moscow and the Moscow region have improved their professional skills at the courses organized and conducted by the faculty of the institute.

Postgraduate training programmes and doctorate are actively functioning in the institute. Over 50 students got Ph.D. and doctoral degrees at the operating dissertation council in the last five years.

The anniversary academic year is remarkable for starting mastering e-teaching methods in the institute. From September 2013 all medical and biological subjects of the first year were reformed. The work will go on in the future; the department of psychology and pedagogics is to start working in the electronic format. Electronic (including distance) forms of learning are in demand particularly in sports higher schools due to the fact that many students spend a lot of time at training camps. E-communication with teachers is a great opportunity for them to combine the sports training process with the educational one.

A.Ts. Puni wrote in his "Essay on the history of sport psychology": "psychology of physical education and sport is one of the youngest special branches of psychological science. Its history is not written yet”. Obviously, it can be fully attributed to Teacher training Institute of physical culture and sport. Development of new curricula, new sports victories of students, new teaching aids and textbooks to be written by teachers are ahead.

References

1.  Belyaev, V.S. The features of training experts in physical culture in Teacher training institute of physical culture of MSPU [Moscow City Teachers' Training University] / V.S. Belyaev, I.V. Kul’kova // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2009. – № 6. – P. 3-6. (In Russian)

Corresponding author: pifkis@mail.ru