Dr.Sc.Psych., Professor V.P. Yakovlev
Ph.D., Associate Professor L.A. Kovalenko
Postgraduate student A.I. Kovalenko
Postgraduate student N.R. Usaeva¹
Laboratory of sports psychology, Surgut State University of KhMAR-Yugra, Surgut

Keywords: teaching activities, trainer-instructor, state and trait anxiety, nervous and mental stability, mental load.

Introduction. In the framework of transition of the modern educational system to new standards new requirements are imposed on the content of educational activity, and these are qualitative requirements, rather than quantitative ones. Introduction of new concepts of the content of education requires restructuring of the existing education system and change in the interrelations between all subjects of the educational process, which represents a complex and multi-faceted system.

Qualitative characteristics of professional activity of a trainer-instructor are as follows: high competency, safety of trainees, high level of social responsibility, creativity, moral duty, teaching tact, optimum level of emotional burnout. Professional activity of trainer-instructors in terms of the modern requirements on the development of physical culture and sport of the younger generation is associated with the increased physical and mental loads. “Professional competency, readiness, curriculum, new standards, interactive forms of communication, types of loads, etc.” become the functional categories of the content of education.

A question of mental load in the educational activity of teachers in the modern specific conditions of education is relevant though insufficiently studied [6].

During the analysis of components and mechanisms of mental load in the educational process, we studied a personal component of physical load of trainer-instructors of children’s sports school.

In general, a personal component is determined by inner conditions and mechanisms of regulation which affect external influences [8].

The effectiveness of psychological support in teaching activities depends mainly on whether a teacher can consider his professional activities through the prism of subject-subject relationships, which are the basis for the development of personal readiness for qualitative and effective educational activity [6, 8].

Formation of personal readiness necessitates consideration of both individual-typological and individual-psychological features of teachers’ development in the organization of professional and teaching activities [7].

Thus, highlighting individual-typological and individual-psychological features, which determine the degree of mental load, influencing regulative and functional aspects of teaching activities, we can state the following: the more negative factors of the personal component of mental load exist, the greater impact is made on nervous and mental state of teachers and effectiveness of the professional activity [5].

Stressogenity is one of the specific features of training activities, due to which a trainer constantly feels a lot of operational and emotional stress [8, 9]. It often happens that during the competitions the trainer cannot correct athlete’s actions and has to deal with the emotional stress, which leads to the reinforcement of the trainer’s mental tension.

The purpose of the study was to conduct the analysis of emotional mechanisms of mental load of trainer-instructors.

Materials and methods. In the course of the analysis of personal component of mental load in the educational process, we carried out a research on the emotional mechanisms of mental load at the premises of Surgut Youth Sports School. The investigation involved 50 trainer-instructors.

In order to identify the individual characteristics of emotional sphere of a personality and emotional regulation of teachers’ activities we applied State and Trait Anxiety Scale by Spielberger-Khanin, “Evaluation of nervous and mental stability, the risk of disadaptation in stress” (“Forecast” questionnaire) methodology [2].

Results and discussion. The research findings on the individual characteristics, such as state anxiety (SA) and trait anxiety (TA) are given in Table 1.

Table 1. Distribution of teachers according to severity levels of state and trait anxiety, n = 50

As seen from the analysis, 75,3 % of respondents have high level of TA, which determines rather high stress sensitivity. Less than 1 % of the surveyed teachers have low level of TA. 10 % of respondents have high indicators of ST and 38 % have average level of ST.

Being an individual trait, anxiety is characterized by relatively stable tendency to take a wide range of situations as threatening, respond to them with anxiety, concern, nervousness and uneasiness. Individuals, who are characterized by high level of anxiety, are more likely to see a threat to their self-assessment, self-esteem and life activity, especially when it concerns the evaluation of their competency and prestige. Increased emotional stress accompanied by fears interferes with normal activities and communication. Strong anxiety negatively affects cognitive activity, evokes various affective thoughts, which do not bear on the subject, and these thoughts hinder from concentrating and retrieval of necessary information from the long-term memory.

In teaching activities full of emotional situations, high TA indicators can lead to excessive excitement, confusion, lack of confidence, anxiety, incompetence, which hinder successful activity. This individual trait has an especially negative impact on teaching activities, since a teacher not only educates his students, but also influences them as a personality and involves into his own fears and anxiety.

Anxiety is associated with the frequency of emotional stress change (mobilization rate of body’s functions for successful performance considering the act of volition) and emotional stress (onset of negative changes in motor and mental functions). According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, excessive emotional stress negatively affects performance [1].

Thus, in some cases, anxiety can increase activity and performance, while in others - disorganize human mental activity in emotiogenic conditions.

According to our study, close correlations between SA, TA indices and nervous and mental stability indicators (NMS) confirm the disruptive influence on mental activity and behavior of trainer-instructors. The indicators have a high significance level, equal to: ST and NMS –  r = 0,53 (p<0,01); TA and NMS –  r = 0,73 (p<0,01).

We studied nervous and mental stability of trainer-instructors of children’s sports school using the “Evaluation of nervous and mental stability, the risk of disadaptation in stress” (“Forecast” questionnaire) methodology. The distribution of special values of the studied characteristic is well-balanced and is close to normal. The findings are represented in Table.2.

Table 2. Distribution of subjects by NMS groups, n = 50

Data analysis revealed that only 10% of the subjects are less prone to have breakdowns. 64 % of respondents are more likely to have neuropsychiatric breakdowns especially in extreme and stressful situations. According to our findings, 26 % of teachers have high risk of neuropsychic breakdowns.

Mental stability, as well as efficiency, is one of the key characteristics of professional activity. It is of great importance to be mentally stable when teaching, i.e. be able to maintain productive mental functioning both in a short-term and long-term stressful situation. It acts as a precondition for overcoming difficulties, active and accurate task performance in a challenging school environment. Therefore, mental stability contributes to successful activity and sense of self-confidence of a teacher [4].

Thus, as seen from the comparison and analysis of the frequency of anxiety experiences among teachers with the severity level of state and trait anxiety, the emotional state of uneasiness the teachers frequently experience, leads to the emergence and consolidation of such a sustainable individual trait as anxiety [3].

Closely interrelated anxiety, nervous and mental instability correlate with a set of characteristics – nervousness, depressiveness, timidity, emotional lability, irritability. At the same time, unsociable and introverted teachers have a high level of anxiety and nervous and mental instability.

Teaching activities represent a social subsystem with its own structure. Its key elements are educational and training activities, social communities (teachers and students), teaching and learning activities as a kind of sociocultural activity, associated with various types of mental loads and emotional stress of the subjects of educational activity [7].

Conclusions. Due to the research findings in the educational system, teachers, specialists, scientists need to focus on such relevant and significant phenomenon as emotional mechanisms of mental load and their influence on personal growth and professional competency of trainer-instructors. Professional competency is defined as high-skilled performance of the tasks of the specific activity, which provides an opportunity to effectively achieve qualitative results in physical and mental loads. Among the important factors of vocational training of trainer-instructor are personal states, including emotional stability and instability.

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Corresponding author: apokin_vv@mail.ru