Universal Cultural Competences Of The University Sports Environment

Abstract

The study is devoted to the problems of the maling, formation and development of competencies of a student, and subsequently a young specialist, in the context of the implementation of the competency-based approach in education. The variety of ways to improve physical culture and sports through the use of the methods of competition and modeling of situations in solving the problems of physical and psychological training of students, maintaining and strengthening health, moral and patriotic education are considered. Based on the analysis of legal acts and applied activities for the organization of physical culture, sports and mass sports, problem situations and a mechanism for improving the physical education of students are identified. The article reveals the essence of independent work, the content of general cultural competences and professional self-improvement of students in an educational institution of higher education, the pedagogical conditions for the formation of their skills and professional self-improvement in the vocational education system based on the implementation of a competency-based approach. Based on scientific evidence related to the formation of general cultural competencies of a specialist in an active physical education and sports environment of a university, the authors propose replacing the traditional methodology of physical education at a university with immersive learning.

Keywords: Educational environmentgeneral cultural competenciesphysical culture and sports environmentphysical culture of a personphysical educationspiritual and physical development

Introduction

In the conditions of socio-economic instability of the modern world, the question of designing a positive environment in an educational organization for the productive development of professional and personal qualities of students acts as one of the priority postulates among other tasks of building the educational process. This component fully applies to the design of a developing physical culture and sports environment, which has the potential of multilateral impact on professional and personal qualities, professional and general cultural competencies of students, regardless of the direction of future professional activity.

Students of educational organizations are organically involved in legal and social relations, being in the process of actively searching, developing and self-affirming their life positions, are forced to constantly adapt to unstable external conditions of life, multi-aspect influences of the social and professional environment. The reason for this is systemic impairment of vitality, which manifests itself in the inability to positive self-development in conditions of social change, in specific life circumstances (Naumenko, 2007). To all of the above, it can be also added that over the entire period of study, many students complain about the general state of their health. So, according to the doctor of medical sciences Shumatov et al. (2014), in the second year of study, the number of cases of diseases increases by 23%, and by the fourth - by 43%. But, as modern educational reality shows, the overall level of performance is greatly influenced by the low physical activity of the students themselves, and the insufficiently high requirements for the physical development of students by the teachers of the departments of physical education. Many students have various diseases prior to studying at the university and at the time of admission are in a borderline state. So, even if they are informed about the unsatisfactory state of their health, most young people continue to consider themselves healthy, having only insignificant reserves for the health consuming behavior (Barabanova, 2018).

But there is no doubt in the fact that in order to improve the overall level of physical activity, a student needs to form a certain level of motivation for physical education and, thereby, arouse the desire for active physical activity and a positive attitude to any sport. Let us add to the aforesaid that the process of activating physical activity among students will not be effectively launched without a clearly organized process of developing the sports and athletic environment of the university and the interest (material) of teachers in the result of their activities. This hypothesis formed the basis of the article, the content of which is devoted to topical issues on the formation of general cultural competencies of a specialist in the active physical education and sports environment of a university.

Problem Statement

In modern conditions, the student’s social environment presents the most varied criteria for the individuality of the student of a higher educational institution (hereinafter referred to as the university), his professional qualities, commitment and motivation. Society needs universities to have a quality approach to fulfilling the state’s social order to train professionally competent young professionals capable of self-improvement, self-development and the realization of their creative plans in their chosen profession. Currently, federal state educational standards in the process of teaching provide students with general cultural, general professional and professional competencies. .

Research Questions

The problematic issue of the study is the formation and implementation of the general cultural competencies of a specialist in the educational environment of a higher educational institution. In the process of research, the problems of the structure of general cultural competencies are examined from the standpoint of motivational-value, cognitive, operational-activity and evaluative-reflective approaches.

Purpose of the Study

The study is aimed at the need to determine such forms and methods of organizing the work of the university’s sports environment that could satisfy the sports and spiritual needs of different categories of students, regardless of gender and age, as well as physical, moral and mental state.

Research Methods

The methodological basis of this study was the dialectical-materialistic method of cognition, general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, methods of generalization and comparison, a logical approach to the phenomena studied. The principles of system-structural and functional approaches are used in the work, as well as such general research methods as observation, description, modeling.

Findings

In modern conditions, society makes the most diverse and multifaceted requirements for the development of the individuality of a student of a higher educational institution (hereinafter - the university), for his cognitive, professional qualities and determination. Society needs universities to have a quality approach to fulfilling the state’s social order to train professional, competent specialists capable of self-improvement, self-development and self-realization of their creative abilities in the chosen profession (Meyer et al., 2019). At present, federal state educational standards in the process of teaching students provide for their general cultural, general professional and professional competencies.

Let us dwell in more detail on general cultural competencies, which include the knowledge, skills that every person who graduates from a university should possess. Compared with professional competencies, general cultural competencies are universal and “appear as a primitive and fundamental component for such entities as professional readiness and competence, professionalism, skill, individual creativity, etc.” (Hyde et al., 2019a). If professional and general professional competencies are acquired in the process of training in the professional disciplines, then the formation of general cultural competencies is not always associated with the future professional activity of the student and his specialization. As a rule, they are formed in the disciplines that are common to many areas of higher education specialties.

Currently, the following general cultural competencies are present in many educational standards of higher education:

• the ability to use the means and methods of physical education to ensure full social and professional activity, as a result of which a university graduate should:

а) know: basic concepts, criteria and tools in theory and teaching methods, features of the pedagogical system and systemic approach;

b) be able to: use the means, forms and methods of physical education to enhance health, improve overall and professional performance;

c) own: a system of theoretical knowledge, practical skills in development and improvement of his functional and motor capabilities. The specified competency is acquired at lectures and practical classes in the discipline "Physical Culture", where students receive the necessary information about the history of the development of physical culture and sports, about measures to maintain a healthy lifestyle, about safety measures when performing physical exercises in various conditions.

• ability to intellectual, cultural, moral, physical and professional self-development, the desire to improve skills and mastery.

The specified competence is realized by increasing motivation for playing sports; the formation of students' sense of responsibility for the implementation of tasks and discipline in the classroom; nurturing the will to win; compliance with competition rules and respect for the opponent (Piercy et al., 2018). These qualities can be achieved in the process of participation in various sports competitions and training camps.

Analysis of the works of E.F. Zeer, I.A. Zimnyaya, E.E. Symanyuk and other authors made it possible to determine the structure of the considered general cultural competencies, which includes motivational-value, cognitive, operational-activity, and evaluative-reflective components (as cited in Smirnova, 2012). The motivational-value approach includes: a positive attitude to physical culture as a component of professional and personal development, determination of motives and ways to achieve the goals, focused work of students to strengthen and maintain their own health. The internal content of the cognitive approach is determined by the presence of knowledge and experience in the theory of physical education. The operational-activity approach is preconditioned by the presence of the student’s skills and experience in planning his activities in the field of physical education, timely monitoring of its effectiveness; the ability to ensure fruitful communication and organization of cooperation with stakeholders in the field of physical culture development. The evaluative-reflexive approach is associated with a personal assessment of one’s activity in the formation of a person’s physical culture, as well as the ability to analyze his work and positive experience of colleagues in this direction.

Despite the fact that today the goal of the discipline “Physical Culture” is the formation of a physical culture of a person, mass pedagogical practice is mainly aimed at achieving a standard level of physical condition of students, and a programmed goal often does not have personal significance for young people due to the conventionality of connection with value priorities of their lifestyle. For the effective development of the general cultural competence of students in the educational process of the university, it is necessary to create certain pedagogical attitudes, and educational environment of the university. It is not accidental in federal state educational standards that a university is obliged to form the sociocultural environment of an educational organization and create the conditions necessary for the comprehensive development of an individual (Starodubtsev & Ivanenko, 2018). The educational environment at the university is: an important element that accelerates or restrains the processes of self-expression and self-affirmation of students; a necessary factor for fruitful development (since most of their time students spend in the university environment), which is the only place where they are understood and perceived as they are. The environment is also determined by the interconnection of conditions with which the student is constantly in contact and acts within it for further spiritual and physical development.

Sports and athletic environment is an important part of the educational environment of the educational organization. From the point of view of Manzheley (2005), the physical culture and sports environment of an educational organization should be understood as a combination of various conditions and possibilities of physical and spiritual formation and self-development of a person contained in a spatial-subject and social environment. The formation of general cultural competencies of students in the physical education and sports environment of the university is observed both in the process of performing various motor exercises designed to improve general physical fitness, and by resolving professionally important tasks. The importance of physical education classes in the student community is increasing from year to year, since at present there is a general tendency to lower living standards and health of the population. An important task of university management now is to create the necessary conditions for attracting the attention of students to physical education and sports, as well as developing a stable positive attitude towards this type of activity and strengthening this positive attitude in the future. (Hyde et al., 2019b).

The main content of physical education is the qualitative changes in the organization of the educational process in higher education, which in the process of socialization will contribute to strengthening the health level of young people receiving higher education (Manzheley, 2005). The solution of problematic issues related to the development of the physical culture and sports environment in universities is reaching a new national level and is a state task. The author's opinion on the existing problem is to create the following conditions:

• the management of the university has a fundamental position on the development of physical culture and sports in an educational organization;

• organization of interaction of the university management with other educational institutions, representatives of executive authorities, public associations and mass media;

• intensification of the organizational work of the faculty of the university departments, and above all the department of physical education (physical education, physical training, etc.), in order to create, develop and further improve the physical culture and sports environment, attract new employees and students;

• conducting classes in physical education (physical training) not only with the aim of increasing the physical activity of students, but also with the aim of health improvement and education;

• election of a university sports council from among students who are constantly involved in sports and purposefully promote a healthy lifestyle, as well as qualified athletes who have sports ranks and titles;

• determination of the organizational structure and objectives of the specified university council;

• the presence of self-government, which will effectively develop the physical education and sports environment of the university;

• the use in the educational process of modern high-tech and safe teaching material base, various equipment for organizing physical education classes and ensuring the work of sports sections;

• the presence of a generally favorable social and domestic environment and conditions for a comfortable life and study of students;

• increasing interest among students to attend physical education classes (physical training) by filling them with the most relevant, modern topics, the orientation of which would correspond to the general structure of the educational process and the structure of classes for a particular university.

It is necessary to once again draw attention to the role of teachers of the department of physical education (physical culture, training) in the formation of a university’s physical education and sports environment comfortable for students, since currently there is a need to reduce the role of the “subject teacher” and to strengthen his activity in public educational work as a regulator of social relations with the student. This, of course, is about changing approaches to the physical education of students, the transition from a teaching method aimed at developing specific physical qualities, to a method whose content is based on the formation of a person’s physical culture. The new technique consists in understanding its fundamental principle as a fundamental core with the spiritual sphere of human activity, and which directly depends on the student’s aesthetic and moral education. The process of implementing the new methodology of physical education in the framework of the implementation of the physical culture and sports environment at the university must begin with the understanding by each student of the unity of biological and social processes in the life of each of us. According to Osipov (2017), only taking into account these factors, the activities of higher education institutions will switch from the routine of conducting physical education classes and the stereotyped organization of sports events to the process of forming a physically healthy, socially successful and harmoniously developed personality.

An important role in the formation of the physical culture of the student’s personality is assigned to the pedagogical process that takes place under the conditions of the interaction of the physical culture and sports environment with the student’s personality. The result of ongoing processes can be seen in various manifestations of the specified environment: formative, educational, educational, communicative, etc.

The structural elements of the sports environment, according to Schetinina (2011), are: subjects (teaching staff, students, etc.), spatial and subject content (forms of organization of physical culture and sports), the socio-communicative component (information and communication interaction in society) and the content-technological component (educational processes). Since the physical culture and sports environment of a university is defined as a single space of all interdependent elements, in which each subject implements his own direction, and uses various spatial-subject elements in the framework of certain social relations, the final result of the activity of this environment is determined by the quality of its spatial-subject filling (layout and interior of gyms, their equipment with inventory, compliance with sanitary standards, etc.). Positive social interactions in it (relations in the educational environment between teachers and students; internal relationships in teams, etc.), and their reliability between the spatial-subject and social components of the sports environment guarantees a certain educational result (King et al., 2018). From this it follows that a positive result of the effective activity of the physical culture and sports environment of the university will be its level of compliance with the requirements of the federal state educational standard.

According to Manzheley (2005), the physical education and sports environment of the university can be attributed to one of four types of development: training, formative, developing, creative. The following signs are characteristic of a "training" physical culture and sports environment: the formation of prerequisites for the adaptation of an organism of students to a certain physical load; organization of classes on the development of general physical qualities (strength, speed, agility).

Under the conditions of a “formative” physical culture and sports environment, it is typical to create conditions for students to gain theoretical knowledge in the field of physical education and sports, on the basics of a healthy lifestyle, on ways to develop motor skills, on the standards of general physical fitness and other regulatory requirements for the level of physical fitness students according to age groups. In these conditions, the orientation toward the acquisition by students of skills in the development of motor skills (speed-strength qualities, flexibility, endurance, etc.) is characteristic in certain favorable conditions, without any adaptation changes. Experts note that this environment allows students to go beyond the scope of physical education classes aimed at passing standards on general physical fitness (Funina & Frolov, 2016).

The “developing” physical culture and sports environment is characterized by the presence of various variable complexes and opportunities for comprehensive and harmonious physical development, and the satisfaction of one’s spiritual values (Kupavtsev, 2015). Specialists in this area of pedagogical activity revealed that the process of personality self-realization in the physical culture and sports environment of a university can have several directions: health-correcting (improving health), body-correcting (improving physique), motor-conditioning (development of physical qualities), artistically -aesthetic (mastering the technique of sports choreography), sports and leisure (organization of sports leisure), sports-effective (achieving a sports result), professional and applied (the formation of psychophysical readiness for professional activities), sports and volunteer (organization and marketing of sports events ) (Kupavtsev, 2016). In the conditions of a “creative” physical culture and sports environment, a wide range is offered for the development and improvement of individual physical qualities, by combining various forms of classroom and extracurricular work (classes in club sections, studios, etc.) (Ainsworth et al., 2018). The pedagogical features of the organization of the physical culture and sports environment can be characterized as a system with a fairly effective number of interconnected elements and the processes taking place in it, with continuous replenishment and reasonable consumption of the educational fund, sufficient communication in the pedagogical environment, and close interaction with students.

Thus, in the physical culture and sports environment, various forms and methods for training and education of students both in the classroom and in extracurricular forms of conducting classes are actively used, various sports and educational services are additionally provided, sectional work is carried out, interaction with other educational organizations is carried out (on the organization of inter-university competitions, conferences on the development of physical culture of sports) (Struganov et al., 2019). The statistics confirm a significant increase in the number of students and university staff who have become involved in various sports on a regular basis and win prizes in competitions at various levels, including international ones, after the universities have introduced financial incentive systems for achievements in sports (Ablah et al., 2019).

Conclusion

Monitoring of scientific research on the problem of the formation of the general cultural competencies of a specialist in an active physical culture and sports environment of a university demonstrates that the standard method of physical education at a university, traditionally aimed at improving musculoskeletal problems, currently does not guarantee achievement of the goal, therefore it needs to be replaced with more new and effective forms of training.

First of all, it is necessary to find such forms and methods of organizing the work of the physical culture and sports environment that could satisfy the sports and spiritual needs of different categories of students, regardless of gender and age, as well as physical, moral and mental state. It is advisable, at the expense of the physical culture and sports environment, to actively engage students in a variety of sports, in order to harmoniously shape their physical and spiritual development, with a clear understanding of personal responsibility for maintaining their health, etc. (Rosenberger et al., 2019). It is necessary to constantly improve the regulatory and legal, as well as the material and economic base, in order to meet the needs of students in physical education and sports, including through club sports, physical education and mass sports in educational institutions, and other forms of sports and fitness and sports mass work with young people at their place of residence (Gafiatulina, 2009). Thus, the presence of positive motivation for the formation of all elements of general cultural competencies, as well as the possession of the necessary tools to develop one’s physical qualities and capabilities, active participation in the physical culture, sports and educational environment of the university, allow us to conclude about the possible positive dynamics of students in improving their physical activity.

References

1. Ablah, E., Lemon, S. C., Pronk, N. P., Wojcik, J. R., Mukhtar, Q., Grossmeier, J., Pollack, K. M., & Whitsel, L. P. (2019). Opportunities for Employers to Support Physical Activity Through Policy. Preventing chronic disease, 16, 190075.
2. Ainsworth, B. E., Watson, K. B., Ridley, K., Pfeiffer, K. A., Herrmann, S. D., Crouter, S. E., McMurray, R. G., Butte, N. F., Bassett, D. R. Jr., Trost, S. G., Berrigan, D., & Fulton, J. E. (2018). Utility of the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities. Research quarterly for exercise and sport, 89(3), 273-281.
3. Barabanova, V. B. (2018). Sotsial'no-vospitatel'naya deyatel'nost' v massovom i professional'nom sporte [Social and educational activities in mass and professional sports]. Izvestiya Yuzhnogo federal'nogo universiteta. Pedagogicheskiye nauki. [Bulletin of the Southern Federal University. Pedagogical sciences], 5, 45-52.
4. Funina, E. E., & Frolov, E. V. (2016). Sozdanie fizkul’turno-sportivnoy sredy kak factor priobscheniya k sportivnomu stilyu zhizni [Creation of a physical culture and sports environment as a factor of familiarizing with a sports lifestyle] Pedagogiko-psikhologicheskiye i mediko-biologicheskiye problemy fizicheskoy kul'tury i sporta [Pedagogical-psychological and medical-biological problems of physical culture and sports], 11(2), 163 - 169.
5. Gafiatulina, N. H. (2009). Zdorov'ye kak tsennost' v srede uchashcheysya molodezhi [Health as a value in the midst of student youth]. Rostov on Don: RAS YURGUES.
6. Hyde, E. T., Omura, J. D., Watson, K. B., & Fulton, J. E. (2019a). Knowledge of the Adult and Youth 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Journal of physical activity & health, 16(8), 618-622.
7. Hyde, E. T., Omura, J. D., Watson, K. B., Fulton, J. E., & Carlson, S. A. (2019b). Step It Up! Prioritization of Community Supports for Walking Among US Adults. American journal of health promotion, 33(8), 1134-1143.
8. King, A. C., Whitt-Glover, M. C., Marquez, D. X., Buman, M. P., Napolitano, M. A., Jakicic, J., Fulton, J. E., & Tennant, B. L. (2018). Physical Activity Promotion: Highlights from the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee Systematic Review. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(6), 1340-1353. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001945
9. Kupavtsev, T. S. (2015). Harakteristiki subjekta samosovershenstvovaniya v sisteme professionalnogo obrazovaniya MVD Rossii [Characteristics of the subject of self-improvement in the vocational education system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.] Vysshee obrazovanie segodnya [Higher education today], 1, 55-59.
10. Kupavtsev, T. S. (2016). Nepreryvnost’ i preeemstvennost’ obrazovaniya kak uslovie samosovershenstvovaniya sotrudnika organov vnutrennih del Rossii. [Continuity and succession of education as a condition for self-improvement of an employee of the internal affairs bodies of Russia]. Problemy sovremennogo pedagogicheskogo obrazovaniya [Problems of modern pedagogical education], 53(4), 28-36.
11. Manzheley, I. V. (2005). Aktualizatsiya pedagogicheskogo potentsiala fizkulturno-sportivnoy sredy [Actualization of the pedagogical potential of the physical culture and sports environment] (Doctoral dissertation). http://www.dslib.net/fiz-vospitanie/aktualizacija-pedagogicheskogo-potenciala-fizkulturno-sportivnoj-sredy.html
12. Meyer, M. R. U., Bridges, C. N., Schmid, T. L., Hecht, A. A., & Porter, K. M. P. (2019). Systematic review of how Play Streets impact opportunities for active play, physical activity, neighborhoods, and communities. BMC public health, 19(1), 335.
13. Naumenko, Yu. V. (2007). Modelirovanie zdorov’eformiruyuschego obrazovaniya [Modeling of health-forming education]. Voprosy obrazovaniya [Educational Studies], 2, 140-160.
14. Osipov, A. Yu. (2017). Znachimye komponenty sotsial’noy fizkulturno-sportivnoy zdorov’esberegayuschey sredy v vysshyh uchebnyh zavedeniyah [Significant components of the social physical culture and sports health-preserving environment in higher educational institutions]. Sovremennye issledovania socialnyh problem [Modern Studies of Social Issues], 8(6-2), 143–149.
15. Piercy, K. L., Troiano, R. P., Ballard, R. M., Carlson, S. A., Fulton, J. E., Galuska, D. A., George, S. M., & Olson, R. D. (2018). The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. JAMA The Journal of the American Medical Association, 320(19), 2020-2028. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2018.14854
16. Rosenberger, M. E., Fulton, J. E., Buman, M. P., Troiano, R. P., Grandner, M. A., Buchner, D. M., & Haskell, W. L. (2019). The 24-Hour Activity Cycle: A New Paradigm for Physical Activity. Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 51(3), 454-464.
17. Schetinina, S. Yu. (2011). Integrirovannaya vospityvayuschaya kulturno-sportivnaya sreda v kontekste gumanitarnoy paradigmy [Integrated educational physical culture and sports environment in the context of the humanitarian paradigm]. Teoriya i praktika fisicheskoy kul’tury [Theory and practice of physical culture], 9, 29-33.
18. Shumatov, V. B., Krukovich, E. V., Rasskazova, V. N., & Kuzmina, T. N. (2014). Formirovanie zdorov’esberegayuschey sredy v meditsinskom vuze [Formation of a health-preserving environment in a medical university]. International Journal of Applied and Basic Research, 9(1), 103-106.
19. Smirnova, E. I. (2012). Razvitiye obshchekul'turnykh kompetentsiy studentov pedagogicheskogo vuza v fizkul'turnoy deyatel'nosti [Development of general cultural competences of students of a pedagogical university in physical culture]. (Doctoral dissertation). https://omgpu.ru/dissertations/smirnova-elena-ivanovna
20. Starodubtsev, M. P., & Ivanenko, A. V. (2018). Suschnost’ nauchnoy kategorii: “obschekul’turnye kompetentsii” [The essence of the scientific category "cultural competence”]. Mezhdunarodnyy zhurnal gumanitarnykh i yestestvennykh nauk [International journal of humanities and natural sciences], 9, 76-82.
21. Struganov, S. M., Sankov, P. A., & Glubokiy, V. A. (2019). Organizatsiya svobodnogo vremeni studencheskoy molodezhi v sovremennom obschestve [Organization of free time for student youth in modern society]. Uchenye zapiski universiteta imeni P.F. Lesgafta [Scientific notes of the P.F. Lesgaft Institute], 10(176), 344-349.