PhD, Associate Professor L.V. Byankina
Far Eastern State Academy of Physical Culture, Khabarovsk

Keywords: physical education, subject, subjectivity, physical education subject.

Background. The meta-theory creation and knowledge integration issues to build up a modern physical education theory have lately been ranked among the top priority ones for the national physical culture and sports sector. Knowledgebase accumulated by the modern science for the physical culture and sports sector needs to be expanded and clearly structured to create the relevant theoretical and practical basis, with a special emphasis on the priority research concepts considering the marginal fields at the junctions of different human nature studying disciplines. One of the key notions for such concepts, in our opinion, is subjectivity that is presently analysed and developed by philosophical sciences, sociology, culturology and, the last but not least, psychology and pedagogics that are subject to this study. 

Objective of the study was to apply a theoretical analysis of a variety of practical approaches to the notion of physical education subject to define its essential features and identification criteria.

Study results and discussion. Theoretical progress with the physical training theory being expanded to evolve into a physical education theory may be interpreted as one of the key stages in the modern theory development process, with the range of the subject matters being considerably increased to embrace many issues of culturology, philosophy and psychology. “Modern physical education theory as of the early ХХI century may be viewed as the next necessary stage in the historical progress of the physical training theory. It is an independent integrative (albeit not mechanically summarising) culture-sensitive theory referring via its content to the human spirit and inner world and, hence, designed to change, above all, individual's consciousness” [7, p. 152]. This statement by Y.M. Nikolayev implies the mechanism of impacts of physical education on a human spirit being considered the key subject of theoretical study. As we have stated above, we believe that this mechanism may be analysed based on the notions (phenomena) of subject and subjectivity being considered as the most integrative features of man in the modern Russian science.

V.A. Petrovskiy who have been studying the notion of subject and its interpretation in psychology for many years, provided the following meanings of a subject: “1) Subject means a purpose-centred (i.e. purpose-setting and purpose-attaining) individual...; 2) Subject means a reflecting individual who has arrived to an image of his/her own self...; 3) Subject means a free and responsible individual; and 4) Subject means a developing individual having to act in an unsteady and unpredictable environment...”  [10, p. 62].

Most common for the modern Russian psychological school is the notion of subject of activity and behaviour in addition to the above definitions; and theoreticians also apply a variety of notions including subject of action, interaction, cognition, communication etc. As things now stand in the modern theory in relation to the educational process subject including the physical education subject, a few matters of the subject identification criteria still need to be explored; so as to identify the identification criteria as such and to outline their application basics in the educational practices.

In the process of theoretical reflections of subject as a notion, the notion of subjectivity has been offered and applied in the latest dissertations and study reports. As provided by A.K. Osnitskiy, subjectivity means an integrated characteristic of a human activity referring to operations and behaviours of the latter. A.V. Brushlinskiy offered a few characteristics of subjectivity including activity, consciousness, creativity and objectification [2, p. 77].

It was in the Y.V. Karmazina's dissertation where, in our opinion, the most comprehensively structured definition of the idea of subjectivity was given, with the following key conceptual features of the notion in the modern context being specified: self-determination issues; self-identification issues; and self-fulfilment issues [6, p. 11-12]. V.A. Yadov et al defined subjectivity as the “feature acquired and shaped up via an active vital process and crystallised in an individual's potentials” [5, p.32].

As provided by V.A. Petrovskiy (1996), an man's subjectivity is expressed in the individual activities that may be considered in the following four aspects: vital activity; objective activity; communicative activity; and self-reproducing activity i.e. the reflective processes to perceive own self as a bearer of consciousness. In accordance with the above, the theoretician applies such notions as vitality subject, objective activity subject, communicating subject and self-perceiving subject [9].

Therefore, there are grounds to conclude that presently subjectivity is commonly referred to as such a characteristic of an individual that covers the key subjective features of such dominated by activity and consciousness with the relevant meaning content.

Relatively isolated and bearing somewhat different meaning content is the notion of culture subject as opposed to an activity subject, with the culture subject being less developed and applicable and, hence, requiring a special theoretical study. As far as the physical education subject is concerned, we have found only two references to this term: in the “Law on Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation” [8]; and in the article by M.Y. Vilenskiy “Student as a physical education subject” (1999) [3].

Clause 5 of the “Law on Physical Culture and Sports in the Russian Federation” is entitled “Physical education and sports subjects” and gives eleven items listing the institutions classified with this category; and only the twelfth item mentions, in addition to sport teams, an individual subject defined as the “individuals engaged in physical education process; athletes and their collectives (sport teams); sport referees; coaches; and other physical education and sport specialists as provided by the formal lists of specialties approved by the relevant federal executive agency in charge of the physical culture and sports sector”.

M.Y. Vilenskiy, when introducing the notion of physical education subject, defines it via the notions of activity, free goal-setting in the activity including the physical education and sporting activities with the relevant reflections, outcome forecasts and the relationships emerging in such activities [3, p. 4]. Subjectivity is defined as expressed in a variety of processes including self-identification, self-expression, self-fulfilment, self-cognition and self-assessment [3, p. 4].

Despite the formally declared focus on a physical education subject, many studies consider a physical education activity subject; so, in order to expand the understanding of activity up to culture, let us consider the structure of physical culture as defined by the modern theory. Authors of monograph “Physical culture and sports in the Russian Federation: new challenges” (2013), for instance, list the following domains of physical culture: educational, sporting, recreational, rehabilitative and adaptive one [1, p. 54]. In addition, theoreticians tend to consider the structure of the modern physical culture as including the following components: knowledge and intellectual abilities; physical perfection; motivations and values; social and spiritual values; physical education and sporting activity [1, p. 50]; or the motivational; personal behavioural; physical; informational; reflective; and operational ones [4]. 

It is natural that modern dissertations give quite versatile accounts of the constituents of the above notion; however, we feel that most of them are driven by the need to specify the differences between the notions of physical education and physical training and strive to realise and bridge the gaps that come up when this science was renamed and revised as mentioned above. Furthermore, many physical education teachers in their practical activities have felt the need for not only the physical fitness and motor skills of the trainees to be duly rated but also the individual physical education levels to be assessed; and, hence, the increasing priority has been given to the process elementary structure analyses.

It was based on the measurable elements of physical education that the theoretical and practical literature developed and offered the following four levels of physical education: situational; basic literacy; higher education; and creative education. Nevertheless, in our opinion, the levelling structure is still in need of an integrative, core characteristic. We believe that subjectivity in application to physical education or physical education subject may be beneficial as the core characteristic. Different accounts of the physical education elements may be interpreted as basically driven by cognitive, operational, motivational components and values; and this approach is generally compliant with the understanding of the structure of subjectivity as provided by the psychological science with its intellectual, emotional and volitional components [5]. Therefore, we could come closer to understanding of the effects of physical education on an individual spirit by rating the progress of and individual subjectivity versus the physical education resource accumulated by the individual.

Conclusion. We applied and analysed the notion of physical education subject to define the activity and responsibilities of an individual assimilating and accumulating resources of physical education. Different understandings of the physical education structure refer to the different types and levels of subjectivity, albeit this notion is still underexplored in the modern theory and comprises the novelty of the present study. We believe that studies of the subject matter may be successful if governed by the principle of compliance, complicity and adequacy in reference to the human accepting and assimilating the cultural heritage. Subjectivity may be interpreted as the integrative characteristic of the physical education subject; and the essential features and identification criteria of the latter, as we found having analysed the available theoretical and practical literature, are the following: subjective activity; reflectivity; responsibility and creativity. As for the subjectivity in itself, it may be explored based on a semantic differential.

References

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3.  Vilenskiy M.Y. Student kak sub'ekt fizicheskoy kultury [Student as subject of physical culture]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 1999, no. 10, pp. 2-5.
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Corresponding author: larisa.byankina@gmail.com

Abstract

The article considers some interpretational problems in relation to the notions of subject and subjectivity that are widely applied in the modern Russian science in the physical education domain. The notion of a physical education subject as the lately introduced one is considered from a variety of methodological positions to analyse its essential features dominated by the activity, responsibility and creativity of an individual assimilating the national physical education resources. Physical education as such is analysed as a system with its key types and elements. The study offers definitions of the essential characteristics and criteria of the physical education subject based on the genuine meanings of a subject and content of the modern physical education system.