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94PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS IN ARAB COUNTRIES: SOCIAL ASPECT
UDC 796.011
Dr.Sc.Soc. I.V. Leskova1
Postgraduate student Marah Raje Dali2, Postgraduate student N.Y. Barieva1 E.V. Maksimova3
Dr. Hab., PhD, Associate Professor A.A. Peredelsky2 ''Russian State Social University, Moscow 2Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth and Tourism (SCOLIPE), Moscow 3Moscow State Pedagogical University, Moscow
Corresponding author:[email protected]
Abstract
Objective of the study was to conduct a theoretical analysis of the publications devoted to the development of the physical education and sports sector in the Arab countries in the social context.
Methods and structure of the study. One allotment of the analyzed material was developed by Arab authors, the other - by Russian experts. The study covers the period from the mid 20th to the early 21st century. We analyzed the publications devoted to the changes in the physical education and sport sector in the Arab countries during the study period in the social context. The information was drawn from the electronic library of Russian State University of Physical Education, Sport, Youth, and Tourism.
Results of the study and conclusions. For the study purposes, we analyzed the topics related to: development of the physical education and sport sector and the state administration system in this field in Algeria; problems of professional activities of physical education teachers at universities of the USSR and Iraq; sociological research on the physical education system in Iraq; identification of the social determinants of physical education and sports in Palestine, etc.
The authors conclude that the development of the physical education and sport sector in the Arab countries has its own peculiarities related to the religiousness of the society, gender inequality, and insufficient development of sports infrastructure. There has been very little scientific information on the social aspects of development of the physical culture and sports sector in the Arab countries since the mid 20th to the early 21st century. The available scientific information generally contains a wide range of issues related to physical education and sports.
Keywords: physical education and sports, Arab countries, Soviet and Russian publications.
Background. The Arab countries made their first steps to independence in different historical periods and within different - socialist or capitalist - progress models with the relevant religious/ secular priorities. These progress formats have effectively predetermined some contradictions in the interpretation of the basic logics of the physical education and sports progress in the Arab countries [9, 14].
Objective of the study was to make a theoretical analysis of the modern research publications on the physical education and sports progress in the Arab countries in the relevant social contexts.
Methods and structure of the study. Some part of the materials analyzed hereunder and covering the
period since the mid-XX to the early XXI century was studied by the Arab authors and the rest by the Russian analysts.
Results and discussion. Of special interest for us was the analysis by Zhukovsky [6] of the physical education and sports sector progress in the Algerian People's Democratic Republic and the government regulatory system for the sector. The analysis shows that Algeria was successful in training highly skilled athletes, tennis players, football players and boxers since the French colonial time although the sports in the country were cultivated to mostly support the French ideological, military- political, commercial and foreign policy agenda. It is emphasized, however, that
the opposition used virtually every football match for the anti-French political demonstrations, although the authorities encouraged the Algerian sports clubbing movement in the attempt to distract young people from the social protest movement as the sport club activity was limited by the sporting and entertainment goals only. The analyst still believes that sports in Algeria were accessible only for the French colonialists and a limited number of Algerian nationals - apparently confusing the elite sports with the mass sports.
After the liberation from colonial dependence, the new Algerian government established new physical education and sports sector management agencies with a special priority to: repatriation of the Algerian national sport elite from the foreign commercial professional clubs; physical education and sports movement democratization and popularization aspects; and cooperation with the USSR to facilitate solutions for multiple problems in the physical education and sport sector staffing via development of a new theoretical and practical education system. The government formed a new legal and regulatory framework for the physical education and sport sector to effectively shut down the "still existing liberal sports organizations accessible only for selected population groups and providing irregular physical education and sport services". The new physical education and sport system was outlined at that juncture in a rather declarative manner without concrete figures, progress benchmarks and analyses of the physical education and sports progress situations.
We also analyzed the article by B.I. Novikova and Al Timimi Ahmed Javad Kadom that gives a comparative analysis of the academic physical education service progress in the USSR and Iraq universities based on a survey of the academic physical education teachers. The comparative physical education progress analysis was called by the authors a "focused sociological study" (FSS) with the relevant study data. The authors, however, surveyed the physical education specialists' satisfaction with their service and correlations between the physical education teacher personality and the students' attitudes to the physical education classes; plus the key factors of influence on the academic physical education service quality; although regretfully failed to analyze the correlation between the professional academic physical education service and education quality on the whole with the physical education and sport sector progress in the country [11].
No serious analysis of the social factors of influence on the physical education and sport service in Iraq was made in the study by L.A. Novikova, S. Hormiz; Jalal Al-Abadi with the academic physical education service survey data for the University of Mosul and school sports in Iraq. Social determinants of the survey data were fully omitted by the authors in fact [5, 12].
"The Syrian schoolchildren physical health" study by V.I. Osik and Qudsi Mohamed Marwan Slah reports and analyzes the functionality, physicality and anthropometric characteristics test data of a Syrian schoolchildren sample. The material, however, also fails to put the study data and analysis in the social contexts -despite the fact that the authors mention the ontokine-siological theory by V.K. Bal'sevich that clearly recommends giving a special attention to the psychological and social factors of ontogenesis on top of the purely morphological and physiological ones. It should be also mentioned that the Syrian schoolchildren sample was too limited (59 people only) to consider the test data meaningful [13].
Having analyzed the materials on Palestine (A.R. Nairat), Tunisia (M. Dakhman) and Syria (L.M. Grzhe-bina, S. Allaban) [1, 3, 10 ], we found a sound sociological approaches with the theoretically grounded analyses of the social determinants for the physical education and sport sector progress. Thus the A.R. Nairat publication emphasizes the extremely important concept that the physical education-and-sports-regulating government agencies and the legal and regulatory framework shall be designed to form a sound socio-economic foundation for the physical education and sport sector progress. As far as the physical education and sport sector progress hampering factors are concerned, the author mentions the "need for complete and reliable statistics", "instability and unpredictability of the military-political situation in the country and region on the whole" and underlines that "the physical education and sports progress experience of other countries cannot be directly mimicked by the nation" [10].
The materials on Tunisia make the reader feel that the physical education and sport sector in the country is viewed as the health protection and social policy effectuation mechanism only. It is emphasized, among other things, that "the civil life disorders, shortage of funds and other factors have been of hampering effect on the progress of elite sports as compared to the mass sports" [3].
The report on Syrian physical education and sport system mentions that the sporting male population of the country is very limited, whilst the Syrian female population has never been allowed to take any physical education and sports activity [1].
The material on Lebanon is even more critical. It agrees with the above studies on the physical education and sport service personnel shortages and underlines the fact that the national physical education and sports infrastructure is underdeveloped being almost exclusively concentrated in the capital. It is very important that the study mentions the sports clubs progress being heavily dependent on the generosity of a bunch of sponsors. It emphasizes that the na-
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tional preschool education is still in need of a physical education curricula and physical education specialists, with the accessible physical activity being limited by outdoor walking only since every non-commercial sports ground in Lebanese schools is covered with concrete.
Of special interest are the study reports by V.V. Lut-kov on the Olympic movement prospects in the Arab countries [7, 8] with the following formal facts on Olympic movement history:
- The first national Olympic committee in the Arab world was established in 1910 in Egypt; and the first Arab athlete qualified for the V Olympic Games in Stockholm in 1912;
- In the interwar period, Egyptian athletes competed in four Olympic Games in 10 sports disciplines to win 4 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze medals; and
- It was in 1950-60ies upon breakdown of the colonial system that the other Arab countries established their National Olympic Committees.
The author, however, emphasizes the 'shortage of sporting consciousness" as the main bottleneck for the physical education and sport service progress in the Arab countries - explainable, in his opinion, by the extreme religious constraints in the Arab world.
Conclusion. The development of the physical education and sport sector in the Arab countries has its own peculiarities related to the religiousness of the society, gender inequality, and insufficient development of sports infrastructure. There has been very little scientific information on the social aspects of development of the physical culture and sports sector in the Arab countries since the mid 20th to the early 21st century. The available scientific information generally contains a wide range of issues related to physical education and sports.
References
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