On the problem of military-patriotic education and physical training of student youth during the Russian-Ukrainian war

Abstract

There are scientific studies on the physical training of servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are based on a high level of physical fitness, particularly general and special endurance, strength training, and active adaptation to wartime conditions, as well as on the increased resilience of their bodies to adverse environmental factors [5; 6; 8; 14; 15; 21-24, etc.]. Therefore, this scientific publication is devoted to describing a year-long experiment and its analysis aimed at determining the level of military-patriotic education and physical training of student youth during the Russian-Ukrainian war. The purpose of the study is a comparative analysis of the organization of physical education among students and the physical training of servicemen before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the armed forces of the Russian Federation. Research methods: analysis of main state documents and scientific-methodological literature; systematization of literature available on various scientific platforms; pedagogical observation of 294 students (171 male, 123 female) during the «Physical Education» course; a survey of 101 officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (79 aged 21-39 and 22 aged 40-55) whose activities are related to physical training and sports with military personnel; calculation of arithmetic mean; statistical methods; processing of quantitative results using mathematical statistics; analysis of physical fitness stages among first-year male (n = 171) and female (n = 123) students; analysis of the survey results of officers regarding: the importance of physical qualities for AFU servicemen (n = 101), forms of organizing physical training activities for AFU servicemen (n = 101), weekly hours of physical training among AFU servicemen (n = 101), the importance of psycho-physical and psycho-physiological qualities for AFU servicemen (n = 101); development of an original methodology: on stages of physical fitness for first-year male (n = 171) and female (n = 123) students; for the survey of officers on the importance of physical qualities for AFU servicemen (n = 101); for the survey on forms of organizing physical training activities (n = 101); on weekly hours of physical training (n = 101); and on the importance of psycho-physical and psycho-physiological qualities (n = 101).

Results: The consistent presentation of the research work of academic staff at the National Defense University of Ukraine facilitated the identification of scientific novelty: for the first time, a team of specialists in physical training and military-patriotic education conducted a simultaneous comparative analysis of the organization of physical education among student youth and physical training of servicemen before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian armed forces, using research methods such as parallel pedagogical observation of 294 university students and 101 AFU officers; analysis of research periods/stages (beginning and end of the academic year) of physical fitness of first-year male (n = 171) and female (n = 123) students; analysis of survey results of AFU officers (n = 101); development of an original methodology.

The co-authors of the scientific publication, based on the analysis of normative documents of Ukraine, the content of university «Physical Education» curricula, and scientific-methodological literature [1-25, etc.], drew several conclusions: 1) High-quality planning of the «Physical Education» course by higher education institutions’ administration contributes to: compliance with the Laws of Ukraine «On Physical Culture and Sports», «On Higher Education», «On Education», and «On Complete General Secondary Education»; adherence to the National Strategy on Health-Enhancing Physical Activity in Ukraine for the period up to 2025 «Physical activity – a healthy lifestyle – a healthy nation» (URL: https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/42/2016#Text); high-quality preparation of academic staff for accreditation procedures; positive student attitudes towards the discipline; transparent implementation of career guidance activities in educational institutions; fostering a positive attitude of future soldiers towards military service, as they are physically and morally ready to defend the country against enemy aggression; 2) The physical training process in AFU institutions contributes to: improving physical development and strengthening health; enhancing military-specialized training of servicemen; developing psychological resilience and moral-volitional qualities; forming servicemen’s readiness to endure extreme physical and psychological loads during preparation and combat operations; improving the combat cohesion of military units, etc. [11; 14; 15; 17; 19; 20-24, etc.].

Future research perspectives envisage the continuation of the scientific experiment and substantiation of the relevance of the topic «On the issue of military-patriotic education and the level of physical fitness of student youth» in subsequent scientific publications.