A.P. Argunova¹
Dr.Hab., Professor T.N. Petrova^2
1Churapcha State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport, Churapcha, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)
²I.A. Yakovlev Chuvash State Pedagogical University, Cheboksary

Keywords: physical education, child’s physical development, professional pedagogical competency, professional education, professionally focused practices, physical culture and sport sector specialist’s professional pedagogical competency building model.

Background. A theoretical and practical competency of a physical education specialist or sport coach in the relevant educational, physical culture or health improvement domains largely depends on how he/ she is knowledgeable in the relevant special, general theoretical, psychological and didactic disciplines and proficient in applying the traditional and modern education technologies and equipment; in addition, the specialist will be able to model the educational process in the disciplines, select and analyse the didactic materials and provide practical support to the trainees with due consideration for their individual resources, aspirations, abilities and interests – that, in their turn, will lay a basis for the professionally valuable priorities and professional competences of the specialist.

Objective of the study was to provide theoretical and practical substantiations for the pedagogical conditions required to form a professional pedagogical competency in the academic physical education system.

Methods and structure of the study. Subject to the study were 220 students including 120 full-time and 100 correspondence course students, including 120 advanced course students of the Advanced Education Department of Churapcha State Institute of Physical Culture and Sport. Study and Reference Groups for the study were composed of 60 full-time course students each.   

The experiment was timed to the implementation period of the new Federal State Higher Professional Education Standard for 034300 Physical Education field as approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF Order of 15.02.2010 for the period of 2008 to 2013. Subject to an analysis under the study were the education curricula for 032100.62 Physical Education and 034300 Physical Education fields. The study found the education curricula for 032100.62 Physical Education field designed for special courses and optional courses making an emphasis rather on the sport excellence matters than the professional pedagogical training of the future physical culture and sport sector specialists that could, in our opinion, help form the necessary didactic and psychological fitness for successful professional career design in the modern labour market situation by the physical cultural university students. 

The study was designed based on a set of test methods to diagnose the maturity of the combined professional and cognitive interests within the frame of the overall professional competences of the students (including M. Rokeach Value Survey; L.Y. Gazman Self-Actualization Test; Bass Orientation Inventory etc.). We also applied the relevant empirical basics for verification of our hypothetical provisions, i.e. developed and customised to the study subject a test toolkit to rate the professional pedagogical orientation of the students and physical culture and sport sector specialists (test method by M.V. Prokhorova, N.V. Kuz’mina et. al) under the pedagogical and profession-oriented students’ practices. We have also developed and implemented the following elective courses in the academic curriculum: Education Systems Management; Professional Pedagogical Students’ Competency Building Methodology; Pedagogical Technologies for Physical Education Teacher’s Practice; and Junior Athlete’s Personality and Professional Qualities Development Methodology.

Study results and discussion. The physical culture university students’ tests showed that it is the pedagogical and profession-oriented students’ practice that is a key prerequisite for the professional pedagogical competency being built in students as it is was found pivotal for the personal priorities (“own self”, “business”, “communication” etc.) of the Study Group students, with the anxiety levels tested to notably decrease. The students’ tests showed the following: interest in business problems; focus on the best possible performance; due priority given to business cooperation; ability to persist in own opinion for the sake of business toward a common goal.

Comparative analysis of the professional pedagogical competency test rates showed the Reference Group rate prior to the experiment averaging 37.7 versus 37.5 in the Study Group. The post-experiment test rates were the following 39.2 for the SG versus 39 for the RG.

The professional pedagogical competency test rates showed some growth of the critical attitude to personal accomplishments, self-rates and self-improvement/ development focus that may be interpreted as indicative of the students mostly rating themselves as professionals.

The professional pedagogical competency of physical culture university students may be built only with due priority being given to humanities (i.e. psychology and pedagogics) and to the interdisciplinary links in the academic education process with due consideration for other students’ activities (off-class ones, research/ self-learning/ creative/ sporting initiatives) designed to build cognitive, communicative, managerial and world-outlook-related abilities of future physical culture and sport sector specialists.  

The professional pedagogical competency test rates showed some growth of the critical attitudes to personal accomplishments, self-rates and self-improvement/ development focus that may be interpreted as indicative of the students being reasonably motivated and mostly considering themselves professional physical culture and sport sector specialists fairly competitive on the labour market. It is the individual, purely personal interests (including sport skills improvement and sport excellence agenda) that were found to comprise the leading motivations for physical education. These rates were found to correlate with the personal priorities in terms of own needs, proneness to competition and leadership in the group. The employed practitioners that we considered for comparison were tested with wide professional interests and scopes, creative attitudes to the vocational activity and due priority to the world-outlook aspects of professional responsibilities; with their practical experience making it possible for them to realize the true value of theoretical, practical and special knowledge.

Conclusion. The experimental study of the educational conditions required to build due professional pedagogical competency in the future specialists gave grounds to list them as follows: pedagogical and profession-oriented students’ practice, since the student’s engagement in real professional activity facilitates the individual vocational identification; research activities by students that foster due interest in the specific content of the educational system and help digest and apply special, general theoretical, psychological and pedagogical knowledge and acquire due proficiency in the traditional and modern educational technologies and equipment; studies of the relevant psychological and pedagogical disciplines with an emphasis on the humanitarian aspects of the interdisciplinary connections, due efforts to improve the world outlook, active self-identification and engagement in the professional education process. For the professional pedagogical competency building process success, due consideration should be given to the students’ individual traits and qualities, traditions, habits, interests and preferences. 

References

1. Vygotskiy L.S. Pedagogicheskaya psikhologiya [Pedagogical psychology]. Moscow: Pedagogika publ., 1991, 480 p.
2. Karpushin B.A. Pedagogicheskie osnovy vospitatelnoy deyatelnosti pri zanyatiyakh fizicheskoy kulturoy i sportom. Ucheb. posobie [Pedagogical basics of educational activity during physical education and sports. Study guide]. St. Petersburg: Lesgaft SPbSAPC publ., 2003, 99 p.
3. Kuzmina N.V., Rean A.A. Professionalizm pedagogicheskoy deyatelnosti. Metod posobie [Professionalism of teaching work. Study guide]. Rybinsk, 1993, 54 p.
4. Lukyanenko E.Y. Formirovanie sotsialno-professionalnoy kompetentnosti studentov fakulteta fizicheskoy kultury [Formation of socio-professional competency in Physical Education Faculty students]. Uchenye zapiski un-ta im. P.F. Lesgafta, 2010, no. 4 (62), p. 51.
5. Resheten I.N., Kober I.H., Prokhorova M.V., Abdulov I.T. Osnovy pedagogicheskogo masterstva uchitelya fizicheskoy kultury [Basics of teaching skills of physical education teachers]. Alma-Ata: Radan publ., 1990, 64 p.

Corresponding author: ssvjakutija@yandex.ru

Abstract

The article reports practical academic experience in addressing the problem of the professional pedagogical competency building via the physical education and sport specialist training system with a special emphasis on the meanings and definitions of the key notions of the study subject and the core findings of the experimental study. The professional pedagogical orientation is considered by the authors to comprise: one of the key criteria of the specialist’s professional competency and ability to efficiently and creatively work so as to fully mobilize individual's potential; an important prerequisite for the positive attitudes of the future specialist’s to the teaching activity; and a core credential of the specialist’s personality. Based on analysis of the available reference literature, we have: identified the key components, types, forms and design/ technological specifications of the professional pedagogical competency; tested the efficiency of the pedagogical aspects of the model designed to build this competency in the teachers and coaches within the national physical education system. The key components of the professional pedagogical competency are the following: values and senses; spiritual, ethical and creative transformation sub-competences. The professional pedagogical competency components are viewed as designed on the following basics: objective of the activity; contentment; resistivity; values-focusing; and centring.