Ph.D., Associate Professor S.S. Kryuchek¹
Associate Professor, Director of Sports Club A.A. Napreenkov^2
1St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University, St. Petersburg
²St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design, St. Petersburg

Keywords: conference, scientific research, education, physical education, university sport, sports club, higher education.

Introduction. As part of the public and social life, the annual interuniversity research and practical conferences “University Physical Education” become increasingly popular. The 63^rd conference was held in 2014. Indeed, a remarkable fact. Much of what has been discussed at the conferences is kept in hard copy archives of publications.

The conference was held with the support of the Scientific and Methodological Council for Students’ Physical Education at the Council of Rectors of St. Petersburg and the Committee for Physical Culture and Sports of St. Petersburg Government. The conferences attract attention of the PE teachers from a number of the St. Petersburg universities, teachers from other regions of the Russian Federation and the CIS countries, as well as the specialists of the multidisciplinary fields of humanitarian subjects (history, philosophy, cultural studies, pedagogics, etc.). 

Considering the importance of the student youth for the nation, one of the archives was dedicated to the 60^th anniversary of the end of World War II, and the other one – to the 50^th anniversary of foundation of the Burevestnik Voluntary Sports Society (1957–2007).

The analysis of published data provided the insight into the scientific, methodological and practical research interests of the authors and allowed to compare and evaluate these areas of scientific interests of PE teachers.

Objective of the study was to provide a data analysis of the St. Petersburg conference studies in the last ten years (for the period from 2004 to 2013).

The analysis was conducted due to regular scientific conferences, specific subjects chosen for discussion and the unified state educational standard of the discipline “Physical Education” in all universities across the country.

Results and discussion. The main topics of the conference comprise the unresolved issues of the current everyday activities of the university personnel, peculiar characteristics of the systematic work of PE teachers and sport club trainers.

The study of published research allowed to determine the pedagogical interest in various types of activities conducted with young students in the field of physical culture; to evaluate scientific and methodological research results; to gain greater insight into the current issues and specify the crucial aspects which contribute or impede the introduction of modern methods and techniques into the educational process.

The higher education system operates within the framework of the unified state educational standard; purposes and objectives of the educational programs are congruent for the personnel. The only differences are observed in the content structure, i.e. lesson plans, which depends on the personnel structure and basic material means. During the educational course, the students are supposed to acquire knowledge in the field of physical culture (including both general and vocational aspects), as well as motor skills needed for the physical and mental health development and for further professional activities. The “Physical Education” discipline also contributes to the personality development of students.

The entire framework of the conference scientific research was distributed according to the scopes of subject matter, agenda, scientific issues, and the number of works of co-authors. The total size of the archived data constituted 190.1 pages.

The proficiency and competency levels of the conference participants can be considered according to the following formal indicators: doctors of science – from 15 to 19 people; PhDs – from 31 to 52 people; teachers and trainers without a degree – from 43 to 50 people. The number of conference participants and guests ranges from 150 to 250 people.

Around 120-150 people participate in the conferences every year. The total number of teachers, presenting the publications for the period from 2004 to 2013, is 1030 people, only twelve (sic!) of whom had published their studies in all scientific events.

The large percentage of the individual scientific studies (41.26 percent of the total number of participants) was observed (Table 1). The studies are performed by the small (1–3) and big (4–8) groups of co-authors.

It should be noted, that merely 38 percent of doctors of science systematically participate in the conferences and present significant research results and findings.

Table 1. Statistics on the authors who had published scientific papers in the archives of St. Petersburg interuniversity research and practical conferences for the period from 2004 – 2013

 The statistics on the number of scientific papers (1694) published in the conferences during the period from 2004 to 2013, including all fields offered by the hosts of conferences, are given in Fig. 1. Each segment under a certain number indicates the area of study.

Fig. 1. Statistics on the number of scientific papers (1694) published in the archives of St. Petersburg interuniversity research and practical conferences for the period from 2004 – 2013.

Segment 1 (0.53 %), topic: “Life of University Students during World War II (1941–1945)”. The framework reveals the historical aspect of studies; the contribution of the Leningrad students to the battle for the city of Leningrad is considered.

Segment 2 (28.93 %), topic: “Means of the State Education Program 3+ Implementation in Universities (Formation of General Cultural and Professional Competences)”. The studies in this area discover the means and methods of physical education, which address one of the major objectives of the educational program: physical training of students.

Segment 3 (0.83 %), topic: “Professional Training of Students using Means of Physical Culture”. The presented works do not consider the studies of the future professional activities and vocations. Thus, the reports and general contributions of the experts during plenary meetings and workshops are of a polemical character.

Segment 4 (4.37 %), topic: “Modern Information and Diagnostic Technologies. Effectiveness Assessment of the «Physical Education» discipline”. The segment includes the studies of the teachers who implement the information and diagnostic technologies in the educational and monitoring processes. A number of PE teachers described the methods and tools, they had developed, and explained how to use them for monitoring of the students’ motor activity.

Segment 5 (28.16 %), topic: “University Sport. Training of Students Engaged in Elite Sports within University (Organization and Methodology)”. Mostly, the studies aim at analyzing means and methods for training of students in specific sports. Such works are considered a part of the basic educational process and are within the framework of elective course. Regretfully, the works, which would consider the organizational aspect of the university sport development, have not been observed in this period.

Segment 6 (1.18 %), topic: “Place and role of Student Sport Clubs in University Activities”. Mainly, the publications reveal the specifics of the sport club structure operation, students’ sports achievements, specifics of organization and improvement of such university activities, as sports and social events, mass sport and health activities. However, there have been observed any innovative ideas or methods.

Segment 7 (21.07 %), topic: “Use of Modern Means and Methods of Physical Culture for Disease Prevention and Student Health Promotion and Correction”. The data analysis in this sector classifies the pedagogical activities in the following areas:

- the use of means and methods of physical culture in training of students with musculoskeletal system disorders;

- the use of means and methods of physical education at classes with students with visceral diseases (diseases of respiratory, excretory, cardiovascular systems, etc.).

Segment 8 (1.59 %), topic: “Role of PE Teacher in Student Personality Development”. The sector comprises studies on university teaching personnel training and publications regarding the modern requirements for professional competences in the field of physical culture.

Segment 9 (0.47 %), topic: “Role of Student Volunteerism in terms of mass physical culture and sports activities”. The publications are insignificant in numbers, thus, the analysis of pedagogical activities in the educational process cannot be conducted in this segment. Basically, the studies on the topic comprise the general principles of the voluntary movement organization based on physical culture methods.

Segment 10 (12.87 %), topic: “Legislative, Social and Economic Issues of Physical Education Process”. The archived data analysis for the period under consideration classifies the activities of the university teaching personnel into several aspects, revealing the following specific features:

- the impact of student’s motor activities on his social status within a student or personnel group; 

- the issues of social and legislative adaptation of students during the educational process;

- legislative and economic basics within the structure of physical education departments and university sport clubs.

Conclusion.

Systematic interuniversity conferences in St. Petersburg provide an opportunity to:

- consider a variety of methods and ideas regarding arrangement of the university educational process;

- exchange the experience on different educational issues in the field of university physical education; 

- state and summarize the scientific and methodological areas of the educational process development in the field of physical education in higher education institutions;

- evaluate the activities of the university and sports club teaching personnel, including the specific organization of intra-university sports events.

However, taking into account the consistent general requirements of the state educational standard of the third generation for the technical and humanitarian universities, it should be noted, that the works presented at the conferences do not consider the matters of formation of cultural and professional competences, as well as conducting of practical and methodological classes.

In this respect, to our recognition, it is necessarily to apply to the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation with the request for validating and stating the following provisions:

- to establish the higher educational standard of the “Physical Education” discipline (theoretical and methodological aspects of the program);

- to appoint the subjects of scientific and methodological research in the main areas of physical education department activities; to allocate funds for its implementation;

- to establish the criteria of the basic competences formalization (evaluation) for structuring the academic courses of students, considering further professional activities on an annual basis;

- to develop and provide the methodological substantiation for university teaching personnel over the whole range of nosological issues within the students’ healthcare system;

- to legislate the university sport club status (including the personnel, legal basis of the students’ self-study activities in the sports facilities without PE teacher's supervision, etc).

References

1. Vyp. materialov 54­y konf. (Proc. of the 54th conf.). – 2005. – 250 P.
2. Vyp. materialov 55­y konf. (Proc. of the 55th conf.) – 2006. – 283 P.
3. Vyp. materialov 56­y konf. (Proc. of the 56th conf.) – 2007. – 332 P.
4. Vyp. materialov 57­y konf. (Proc. of the 57th conf.) – 2008. – 360 P.
5. Vyp. materialov 58­y konf. (Proc. of the 58th conf.) – 2009. – 210 P.
6. Vyp. materialov 59­y konf. (Proc. of the 59th conf.) – 2010. – 350 P.
7. Vyp. materialov 60­y konf. (Proc. of the 60th conf.) – 2011. – 324 P.
8. Vyp. materialov 61­y konf. (Proc. of the 61st conf.) – 2012. – 288 P.
9. Vyp. materialov 62­y konf. (Proc. of the 62nd conf.) – 2013. – 348 P.

Fizicheskaya kul’tura studentov: materialy 53­y mezhvuzovskoy nauch.­metod. konf. po fiz. vospitaniyu studentov vysshikh uchebnykh zavedeniy Sankt­Peterburga (Physical education of students: Proc. of the 53rd Interuniversity res.­method. conf. on phys. education of students of St. Petersburg educ. institutions) / Ed. by S.S. Kryuchek. – St. Petersburg: SPbGUMP Pub. center, 2004. – 254 P.

Corresponding author: kfv@smtu.ru

Abstract

The researchers attempted to make an analytical review of the proceedings of St. Petersburg inter­university research­practical conferences «University Physical Education» for the period from 2004 to 2013.

The benefits of regular inter­university forums held in St. Petersburg are as follows:

­ Identification of the breadth of views and a variety of methodological trends in the organization of the educational process of students;

­ Exchange of experience on the wide range of pressing problems in teaching of students in the field of physical education;

­ Synthesis and formulation of scientific and methodical trends of development of the educational process in the field of physical education in higher educational institutions;

­ Assessment of the efforts made by department and sports club staff in the area of development of university sport, including the specifics of organization of intra­university sport events.