Meaningfulness of adolescents employing the physical self-education process towards the development of physical features

Our researchers have found that a narrow focus on the properties of physical education within sessions taken in the classroom prevent from enhancing the prestige of physical education as a teaching subject and inhibits students’ attitudes and abilities to consciously practice physical education. Thus, in our case, the implementation of physical self-education through physical education classes encouraged the students for developing the values of physical education and in fairly striving for physical abilities, health and learning success considering personal expectations and resources. Comprehensive school has been recommended to adapt the curriculum in such a manner that each learner, according to individual needs and abilities, would mature as a personality and acquire competencies necessary for further education as well as for a meaningful and active life in democratic society (Strategy for Creating, Implementing, Evaluating and Renewing the Content of Comprehensive Education for the period 2006–2012, 2007). It is therefore worth exploring the problem which is the issue of the content of physical self-education and technology selection that concentrates on developing the physical qualities of the upper-secondary school student. The conducted research was aimed at investigating the effects of physical self-education on the promotion of the physical features of the 1st and 2nd year male students of upper-secondary school. The process of physical self-education has been addressed to and discussed on the basis of General Programs for Primary and Basic Education (2008) and related to the holistic direction of physical education and to personal physical education values and aspirations validating activities stimulated by the students of upper-secondary school. The experimental program was applied in three upper-secondary schools of Lithuanian capital Vilnius for the period of school years 2009/2011. The performed research involved 127 male-students of the basic medical group of physical fitness (group E1 – 64, group E2 – 63). A complex educational effectoriented programme was carried out and covered the purposefulness of the acquired knowledge of physical education and, with the help of physical self-education, improved the indexes of physical qualities as the values of physical education obtained by a today’s learner. The tools for conducting research included a scientific and methodological analysis of literature, classic educational experiment, testing physical features and statistical analysis. In the course of the educational experiment, both groups of the respondents, upon the completion of each school year, improved the indexes of coordination abilities and investigated physical features. It should be noted that the surveyed participants of group E1 somewhat effectively enhanced coordination abilities such as dribbling the ball with the left hand around obstacles, three forward somersaults, standing balance (flamingo), active flexibility (sitting and reaching), functional strength (flexed arm hang) and standing long jump. In addition, the students representing group E1 rather than those from E2 had stronger motivation for physical self-education. The awareness of student’s physical self-education focused on developing physical features may appear as a dominant value of life in the future