PhD, Associate Professor T.V. Yakovleva¹
PhD, Associate Professor N.V. Andrianova¹
PhD, Associate Professor T.I. Polunina¹
PhD, Associate Professor M.S. Veselkin¹
PhD, Associate Professor G.V. Shvets^1
1State University of Humanities and Social Studies, Kolomna, Moscow region

 

Keywords: students, continuous teaching practice, physical education, physical education and sports department, school-university partnership.

 

Background. The Educational and Industrial Practice component of the valid education curriculum offers a great resource to build up the knowledgebase and professional competency and support students in the teaching skills development process, with the component “considered a mandatory form of the modern teaching service geared to give a practical professional experience to the trainees” (see http://classinform.ru/fgos/44.03.01-pedagogicheskoe-obrazovanie.html Teacher Education; FSES). It should be mentioned that the role of teaching practice in the future education specialist training process has widely changed for the last century – from the high priority given to them throughout academic period to their total rejection as so called ‘passive’ practices. Presently the Ministry of Education, universities, colleges and employers give a special priority to the wide range of teaching practices in the training process. In the context of the ongoing reform of the national teacher education system, a due priority shall be given to the past positive experiences including the Soviet one. It was in 1984-85 academic year that every pedagogical university in the country was obliged to introduce continuous teaching practices to offer practical trainings and social service mastering opportunities for junior students, with senior students engaged in practical school teaching service 4 hours a week. However, in the early 1990s the first-to-third year practices were undeservedly cancelled. In 2017 State University of Humanities and Social Studies (SUHSS) made an attempt to reinstate the specialty-specific system of continuous teaching practices for junior students.

Objective of the study was to analyze the facilitating educational provisions for the continuous teaching practices for the junior students to acquire the primary practical teaching and social service experience, and for the senior students to improve their practical school teaching skills.

Methods and structure of the study. The Physical Education and Sports (PES) Department of SUHSS formed cooperation agreements with a few education establishments in Kolomna including secondary schools #14, 16, 17 and 20. Every first-year student was assigned to one of the schools, with each school group controlled by authorized faculty members from the Physical Education Theory and Practice Department and Pedagogical Department under supervision of the Deputy Dean for Teaching Practice (a newly introduced position). The first-year practice is designed as a sequence of tasks, each taking 2 weeks, with the task completed either directly at school or on a remote basis – when the official website of the educational establishment is involved. The practical tasks are geared to help build up the professional teaching competences in the students in every teaching service domain – from the digital diary processing to the teaching methodology analyzing and summarizing exercises. The student’s performance during the practice is documented in the Teaching Practice Diary with each task completion algorithm, written execution report, reflective part and supervisor’s notes/ marks.

Study findings and discussion. The continuous teaching practice at the Physical Education and Sports Department of SUHSS was found to heavily contribute to the practical experience and knowledgebase of the students. Each student was offered ample opportunities in the practice to test his/her own qualities, knowledge and professional skills to get ready for the post-graduate career, with the traditional academic education curriculum being complemented and improved with the specific practices and tasks in general and advanced regional and municipal education establishments; with the continuous teaching practice process facilitated by the school-university partnership.

The school-university partnership was offered to facilitate implementation of the Professional Teacher standard with a special emphasis on the practical training component and tools. The individual Teaching Practice Diary may be applied by every student to design and manage his/her own learning trajectory with the reference points and timeframes for the tasks, including that for the supervisor-assisted activities; with each of the tasks checked upon completion by the managers to analyze the errors and correct the individual performance in the continuous practical teaching process. The key practical tasks/ actions completed by every student in the academic Physical Education discipline when practicing the teaching skills at schools may be listed as follows:

• Meet the school management and get the background school information.

• Self-test own professional competency; and draft an individual professional progress profile.

• Study and analyze the school website.

• Analyze the School Statute, local regulations and pupil’s health records.

• Study core school education programs.

• Analyze e-journal and e-diaries.

• Make an overview of the school assets and provisions for the Physical Education discipline.

• Draft the school sport record with a special emphasis on the school physical training and sport traditions and accomplishments.

• Familiarize yourself with the association of the local physical education teachers providing methodological support to teachers.

• Attend school PES lessons.

• Attend school off-class PES trainings/ events.

• Visit master classes of the leading physical education teachers.

• Make a thesis for a practical session and run an active break for junior pupils.

• Assist the local physical activists in making promo materials for the PE office, posters or light boxes.

• Help the school activists in renovation/ upgrade of the sport equipment when necessary.

• Help mark/ facelift a school sport gym or outdoor sport ground.

• Make presentation “Modern School Physical Education Model”.

Each completed task will be scored by the practice supervisor on a 100-point scale, with the points fixed in the individual Teaching Practice Record. The individual academic progress per annum will be rated by an arithmetic mean of the summarized task points. Upon completion of the teaching practice, the Deputy Dean for Teaching Practice will endorse the students’ rankings in the Teaching Practice Record and the individual students’ Practice Cards kept for 4 academic years, with the final students’ rankings published on the university website.

Conclusion. The continuous teaching practice for 4 academic years will contribute to the professional competency, teachings skills and competitiveness of the future teachers in the school PES system, conditional on the practice duly facilitated by the school-university partnerships. The continuous teaching practice is highly beneficial for the sporting students as it helps them master important general cultural, professional and communication competences and accumulate practical experience to secure good health standards, mental and physical progress and personality development for school pupils.

 

References

1. Romanov V.A. Didakticheskaya model kak osnova professionalnoy podgotovki sportsmenov v sisteme fizicheskogo vospitaniya v vuze [Didactic model as a basis for professional athletic training in university physical education system]. Teoriya i praktika fiz. kultury, 2016, no. 1, p. 68.

2. Yakovleva T.V. Pedagogicheskaya praktika v obrazovatelnykh uchrezhdeniyakh kak sredstvo formirovaniya u studentov kommunikativnoy kompetentnosti [Teaching practice in educational institutions to build students' communicative competency]. Psikhologiya i pedagogika v obrazovatelnoy i nauchnoy srede: Mezhdunarodnoe nauchnoe izdanie po itogam Mezhdunar. nauch-prakt. konf. [Psychology and pedagogics in educational and scientific environment. Proc. Intern. res.-pract. conf. (September 17, 2016, Surgut)]. Sterlitamak: AII publ., 2016, pp. 173-175

3. Yakovleva T.V. Problema realizatsii kompetentnostnogo podkhoda v gumanitarnom vuze cherez kontekstnoe obuchenie studentov [Problem of implementing competency building approach in university of humanities via contextual training of students]. Gumanisticheskie tsennosti v usloviyakh realizatsii kompetentnostnogo podkhoda k obrazovatelnomu protsessu shkoly i vuza: sbornik statey III Vseros. nauch-prakt. konf. 'Akhmatovskie chteniya' [Humanistic values in school and academic educational process implemented within competency building approach. Proc. III nat. res.-pract. conf. 'Akhmatova scie. conf.' (May 24, 2014., Kolomna)] [ed. A.V. Leksina, A.V. Leonova]. Kolomna: MSRSHI publ., 2015, pp. 64-68.

 

Corresponding author: t-v-iakovleva@yandex.ru

 

Abstract

The article overviews the practical experience of the continuous teaching practice implemented at the Physical Education and Sports Department and analyzes its benefits for the junior students’ progress in different educational and social service aspects, skills and abilities; with senior students engaged in practical teaching and tutorial services to establish a basis for their physical education service at general education schools and due competitiveness in the school educational system. We believe that targeted continuous practices in the first four academic years facilitate vocational competences building process, conditional on the facilitating educational provisions being created by the school-university partnerships. The continuous teaching practice is highly beneficial for the sporting students as it helps them master important general cultural, professional and communication competences and accumulate practical experience to secure good health standards, mental and physical progress and personality development for the school pupils.