PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR SOVIET CHILDREN AND TEACHER AND COACH EDUCATION Physical education for children (to seventeen years). An historical overview and contemporary study of organisation and methods. An examination of the professional training of physical education teachers and sports coaches. Two volumes - Vol. II Lesley Jean EVANS-WORTHING B. Ed. I-kLk submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University Bradford -COF of Postgraduate School of Studies in Languages and European Studies 1987 100-751 BD 034580528 5 482 CHAPTER VI PHYSICAL EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL Completing the physical education programme for school- children are those activities which are conducted and organised by non-school establishments. They have their own staff, usually possess their own bases and facilities and are administered jointly by the public education system, physical culture and sport committees, Komsomol and trade union organisations and they enlist the assistance of volunteers from the public and young sports 'activists'. The main organisational and methodological requirements of physical education outside school among children, teen- -agers and young people are said to be: 1. Planning this work in accordance with the goalsy tasks and content of. th, e All-Union GTO Programme, taking into account the age characteristics of those trying to attain the standards 2. Regular contact and co-ordination in conducting physical education outside school between all the departments and organisations directly interested 1 in it. A wide range of activities is offered by the following which will be described in turn: Sports sChools i) children's and young people's sports schools specialised children's and young people's sports schools iii) specialised children's and young people's sports schools for Olympic Reserves 483 iv) sports classes in schools v) sports boarding schools vi) sports and health improvement camps. Sport at children's places of residence C. Young Pioneer houses and palaces D. Young Pioneer camps Children's outdoor recreation centres F. Clubs organised by sports societies Independent physical exercises i) in the family ii) in housing courtyards i1i) parks of culture and rest. _ Camps of labour and rest for senior pupils Palaces of culture, houses of culture and clubs of culture In the opinion of one Soviet physical education specialist the above may be placed in two main groups: a) the sports schools b) the rest. He also explained that, in general, there seems to be much money available for these various activities. In all cases participation in out-of-sc. hool activities is voluntary and enables children to Pursue sporting interests which schools cannot. always provide. Sports Schools Sports schools are not educational establishments but are really 'clubs' in the Western sense. Apart from some exceptions which are described below, children attend sports 484 schools before or after normal school for the purpose of sports training. The first children's sports schools (detskie sportivnye shkoly) (DSSh) were established in the school year 1934/35 in Moscow and Tbilisi (Georgia) under the auspices of the 3 USSR Ministry of Education. This was in response to the (ýn paucity of facilities and specialist teachers for physical education for children in the general school system at that time as described in Chapter II. Pupils from the sports schools competed in regional, Republican and All-Union sports societies'spartakiads, Young Pioneer meetings and 4 school spartakiads (which began at Republican level in 1934). The sports schools themselves possessed no facilities of their own and were obliged to rent them from other bodies such as 5 sports societies. At the end of 1936, the country's 64 trade union sports societies had at their disposal 353 stadia, 6 706 gymnastics halls and 340 rowing stations and some of the societies set up junior sports sections with teams * including the Junior Dinamo section (Yuny Dinamovets) and 7 Junior Spartak section (Yuny Spartakovets). By 1937, there were more than 200 children's sports 8; schools by 1940f 46,000 children were said to be training for a variety of sports in 240 DSSh and working for their 9 BGTO and GTO Stage I badges and in 1948, there were 460 10 DSSh with over 80,000 pupils. The DSSh were intended to nurture the talents of promising children and provide an initial training for future top-class athletes. Until 1948, Ministry of Education DSSh received little finance and few facilities but, in line with the new state goal to demonstrate Soviet sports prowess internationally, a government call for 485 sporting excellence in that year gave them more financial assistance than before. It also compelled trade union sports societies to establish sports schools and junior sections, but most of the country's sports schools were still run by Republican ministries of education and were in the 11 larger cities. In 1952, the RSFSR Ministry of Education and the Central Committee of the Young Pioneer Organisation issued the first 'Regulations Concerning Non-School Children's Establishments of the RSFSR Ministry of Education' which set out the content and methods of work in DSSh in 12 line with the communist education of young people. By 1957, there were more than 1220 DSSh with over 13 276,000 pupils who were striving to develop sports skills. Among their former pupils were Olympic champions G. Zybina (1952, shot put), Boris Shakhlin (1956p 196o, 1964, gym- 14 nastics) and N. Anikin (1956, cross-country relay skiing). The sports historian V. V. Stolbov writes that in the mid- 1950s the role of sports schools, particularly those of Dinamo, Spartak and the Central Army Club (TsSKA) was increasingly to produce top-class athletes, but that at the same time there was some criticism that Ministry of Education sports schools were being used insufficiently and that efforts should be made to raisb their effectiveness. He adds that there were two conflicting views in the pages of OP 7 literature sports - one held that DSSh stood in the way of sports sections and school sports clubs and should, therefore, be closed, whilst the other maintained that they were of value for the present and the future in guaranteeing a 15 material base for sport and also coaching staff. The latter view Proved the more popular with the authorities and DSSh remained the main form of training young athletes; they 486 continued to develop in number and quality. The average size of each DSSh rose from 179 PuPils in 1940 to 260 pupils in 1958 spread among different sports, but they tended to concentrate mainly on gympastics, athletics, basketball,. volleyball, skiing, swimming, fencing, soccer and speed skating (i. e. Olympic sports) in that f7t 16 order. In 1963, DSSh reduced the number of sports each offered from ten in some cases to three or four to make better use of facilities and specialist training, and in 1966 this was further reduced to one or two sports. In the same year, the age-range of pupils attending sports schools was extended from 10-16 to 7-18 years. This led, in 1966, to a change in the title of sports school: s to 'children's and young people's sports sLoolsl (detsko-yunosheskie sportivnye shkoly - DYuSSh) and a 1966 Resolution confirmed them to be "special sports institutions intended to train highly- 17 qualified athletes". The sports offered in DYuSSh consisted almost entirely of-Olympic sports and this emphasised the purpose of these sports schools. In 1967, Yunost (Youth), a sports society for young people, was set up to oversee the activities--of DYuSSh and to ensure that minimum standards were being maintained with 01ý entry requirements and starting ages to be controlled. By 1967, the number of DYuSSh had grown to 2772 organised by the following bodies: education ministries 1605 - 567,400 pupils trade unions 1044 - 296,600 pupils 18 Dinamo and Armed Forces 123 - 74,700 pupils. 487 Standard syllabuses were drawn up in 1970 by the USSR Council of Ministers, the USSR Ministry of Education and the Communist Party and these specified that DYuSSh were to develop all-round athletes to their highest potential and improve the physical fitness of their pupils with year- round training schedules in their chosen sports. They also called for parents' groups to make parents partially 19 responsible foý ensuring their childrenli regular attendance. In 1978, the number of sports schools had risen to 5956 with two million pupils of whom 617,000 children attended 2219 trade union sports society sports schoolsl and a further 270 new schools were planned for 1979-1980.20 The figure of 5956 sports schools included 678 specialist DYuSSh (spetsializirovannye detsko-yunosheskie sportivnye 21 shkoly) (SDYuSSh). which concentrated on one sport. The RSFSR Ministry of Education introduced changes in 1978 to the regime of educational and training work in DYuSSh providing for an increase in the volume and intensity of physical loads and a decrease in the size of groups in all types of sports schools. These changes were enforced by September 1979 and were said to have been imposed to lead to better sports resultsp particularly in the 1980 Moscow 22 Olympic Games arena. Complaints in Soviet sports journals claimed that trade union sports societies were spending most of their funds on their best athletes and were funding their sports schools, teams, training camps and trips to competitions whilst virtually neglecting the rest of the keen, but not as talented or competitively inclined, sportsmen and women. In one journal it was suggested that no more than 20-25 per 488 23 cent of their funds were being assigned to mass-sport. The 1981 Resolution 'On Further Improving Mass Physical Culture and Sport' attempted to answer criticism of this type and ordered all Ministry of Education DYuSSh to be open to every child who wished to use them, although many had already been 'open' since 1979.24 Until then admission I had usually been by means of a selection procedure-allowing only the most talented and potentially successful children to join and then, once in the DYuSSh, each pupil was subject to regular tests and those who did not reach required standards were told to leave.