Educational and educational functions of running in the pedagogical system of P.F. Lesgaft

The subject of this study is the pedagogically significant functions of running and running exercises, which are the basic components of the system of physical education created by the great Russian scientist and educator Peter Frantsevich Lesgaft (1837-1909). Clarification of the educational and cognitive potential of running practices for the formation of physical abilities, mind, character and moral qualities of students in the light of P.F. Lesgaft's humanistic ideals is the purpose of the proposed scientific work. The analysis of the literature on the research problem allows us to come to the conclusion that the Russian scientific thought has mastered such components of P.F. Lesgaft's pedagogical heritage as the orientation of physical education to the holistic development of personality ^{[5, 12, 20]}, the humanistic foundations of the pedagogical process ^{[2, 13, 22, 24]}, features of military physical education ^{[3, 4]}, pedagogical innovation of P.F. Lesgaft ^{[1, 6, 8, 9, 21, 23]}, health-saving practices ^{[7, 19]}, family education ^[11] and some others. Despite the fact that a number of the listed works note the importance of running in the system of physical education of P.F. Lesgaft, the depth of the study by the great Russian teacher of historical, theoretical and applied aspects of various running exercises, their systemic relations not only with other types of physical activity, but also with other school disciplines, first of all, escapes the attention of researchers focused on the study of space-time relations and various aspects of movement (speed, strength, resistance, etc.), as well as the educational process as a whole. The identification and analysis of various facets of the pedagogical load of running and running exercises in the humanistically oriented system of development of the younger generation, created by P.F. Lesgaft, constitutes the novelty and theoretical significance of the study. The practical value of this scientific work is manifested in its focus on improving the quality of teaching physical culture in educational institutions. The historical and anthropological approach, as well as a number of general scientific (systematization, generalization, comparison) and theoretical methods (analysis of literature on the research problem, terminological analysis) were chosen as research methods. 

  Problem statement

   The relevance of the appeal to the pedagogical heritage of Pyotr Frantsevich Lesgaft is primarily due to the need to overcome a number of negative features inherent in the domestic system of education, physical culture and sports training. These features include the utilitarianism of school education, manifested in the priority attention of both the school administration and teachers, students and their parents to subjects from the field of USE, which results in a more or less pronounced disregard for "other" disciplines, including physical culture. There are cases when this subject is taught based on questionable (couple)psychological and mystical-philosophical practices, as well as religious and occult teachings, presented, for example, in some manuals on pseudoscientific "pedagogical valeology"; in the minds of many teachers, the physical improvement of students is not always associated with their mental and moral development; often family and school education, including in the field of physical training, it is based on diametrically opposite values. The result of this attitude to the school course of physical culture is an unacceptable state of health of Russian children and adolescents, most of whom have chronic diseases, including cardiovascular, joint diseases, physical inactivity and obesity. It is obvious that the prevention of these diseases is largely ensured by regular and properly organized physical education activities in educational institutions. It is also noted that in Russia "... the share of young people who do not pay attention to physical activity has decreased in recent years, but still remains quite high (30% of boys and 55% of girls) and exceeds the corresponding indicator of many European countries" ^{[25, p. 180]}. It is precisely due to the insufficient involvement of schoolchildren in physical culture and sports activities, in fact, the weak development of accessible mass sports for children, that the heirs of E. Streltsov, L. Yashin, I. Netto naturalize foreign football players to play for the Russian national team, and the compatriots of the brothers S. and G. Znamensky, V. Kutsa and P. Bolotnikov have long had no chance of stayer distances of the Olympiads.

Thus, we can state the problem of clearly insufficient development of the classical heritage of P.F. Lesgaft by modern domestic pedagogy, which in many ways generates significant flaws in the teaching of the school course of physical culture. Also, the elements of the problem field are the weak involvement of the population in physical culture and sports activities, the erosion of the value of a healthy lifestyle among young people, a decrease in interest in recreational running in the public consciousness. 

Brief description of P.F. Lesgaft's pedagogical views

It seems that it is the system of physical education of P.F. Lesgaft that can become the basis of a new approach to the organization of training and education of the younger generation both at physical education lessons and beyond. The great Russian teacher believed that the main goal of the school should be the comprehensive development of the child. He should be instilled with a scientific worldview, skills of abstract thinking and critical attitude to reality, the ability to control himself, choose the right forms of physical activity and calculate his strength to achieve his goals, citizenship, collectivism, the desire for creative self-expression and deeply conscious ethical principles. Being a brilliantly educated scientist, professor, doctor of medicine and surgery, P.F. Lesgaft believed that pedagogy, which he considered as a branch of biology, should stand firmly on scientific ground, developing primarily on the basis of anatomy and physiology. Physical education, in his opinion, is connected with the intellectual, aesthetic and ethical upbringing of a child, the task of this type of education is to "teach a young person to act consciously and check his mental activity" ^{[17, p. 340]}. Therefore, in physical education classes, the child should be taught not by the method of "showing", but by "word" – this increases awareness of perception, develops imagination and abstract thinking, prepares the student for work, since it teaches to select, coordinate and combine bodily movements for the most effective and long-lasting goal attainment. Having realized the high efficiency of scientifically based physical education, having achieved success in two-fold (bodily-spiritual) development, the student will adhere to its provisions even after graduation, which will become an important prerequisite for the need for continuous personal and professional growth, the basis of health preservation and active longevity.  It should be perfectly clear to the child that "... the combination of developed mental activity with a very weak body <...> does not go unpunished, – it inevitably entails impotence of external manifestations: thought and understanding may be, but there will not be adequate energy for consistent verification of ideas and persistent implementation and application in practice" ^{[14, p. 289]}.

Also, P.F. Lesgaft wrote a lot about the importance of properly implemented family education, pointing out that not only parents form a child by traditional practical methods, but he also educates them. This is due to the fact that parents should by their example constantly affirm in family and social life the values to which they attach their children. The humanistic ideals laid down in the consciousness of the child in the family are then developed by the school on the basis of scientific methods of systematic upbringing and education. The result of the joint activity of the family and the school should be a harmoniously formed personality, and "the goal of any general education (in the final result) should be to consciously limit arbitrariness in a person's thoughts and actions and to clarify his own personality and its meaning" ^{[17, p. 340]}.

   Running practices of Antiquity in the understanding of P.F. Lesgaft

Turning to the analysis of running classes in the system of physical education of P.F. Lesgaft, we note that he created one of the best essays for his time on the history of the development of physical culture, highlighting three stages in its evolution: empirical (Ancient Persia, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome), scholastic, when physical development was systematically practiced mainly in a knightly environment, as well as the scientific period in which pedagogy becomes the solid ground of anthropology, turning from art into science. P.F. Lesgaft had a special reverence for the ancient Greek practices of physical and spiritual development of youth, since the ideal of ancient culture was kalokagathy – harmony of external and internal beauty of a person. At the same time, he emphasizes that it was on the basis of physical training that the development of all personality qualities was carried out: "Ancient Greece, from where classical education originates, understood the nature of the child and the conditions of his education so well that, on the basis of everyday experience, the Greek sages established compulsory physical education for themselves, in order to teach a young man to master himself, his passions and needs; they did not necessarily have a mental education. They checked their mental education by visiting all their existing institutions and observing the manifestations of social life. From all this it follows what importance should be attached to physical education at school" ^{[15, p. 323]}. One of the most common methods of physical improvement in Ancient Greece was running, which existed in many varieties and functioned both in the sacred and profane segments of ancient culture ^[10]. P.F. Lesgaft analyzes the specifics of running exercises used for general physical development ("palestrica" – running as an element of pentathlon), at competitions (various types of "agonistic": Olympic, Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean Games; it should be noted that in the first thirteen Olympiads running was the only type of competition) and in the implementation of religious rituals. His attention is attracted by simple running, double running with an arc-shaped turn, long running, running in full armor, running with torches, running forward and backward without turns, running on socks with rapid movement of stretched arms for balance, running in women's dresses with a vine in their hands, which was carried from the temple of Dionysus to the temple of Athena. Referring to the "simple" running, he points out that boys, boys and "young girls" competed at distances smaller than adult men ran; notes the case of the death of the Spartan Ladas in a long run for 24 stages; focuses on the applied nature, important for the training of warriors, running in full armor, indicating Plato's demand to overcome in this way not only short, but also medium and long distances. Speaking about running with torches, P.F. Lesgaft emphasizes the importance of its high-speed component, since "it was absolutely required that the one who ran out with a torch lit from the flame of the altar ran as fast as possible to a known place with an undamped torch" ^{[14, p. 98]}.

Fundamentally defending the relationship between the physical and spiritual and tracing their interaction in all components of physical education, P.F. Lesgaft pays special attention to such a variety of ancient running as ekpletridzein – running on the sixth part of the stage (184.27 m), called "pletr", which was approximately 30.83 m. The plethr was run forward and backward without turning, successively reducing the space so as to stop exactly in the middle, then the space being run was also evenly increased, eventually reaching the starting place. According to the outstanding teacher, this method of locomotion can teach students to "feel the space with their feet" without visual control over it, determining the distance covered only by muscle sensations. 

Issues related to preparation for running competitions are also significant for P.F. Lesgaft. For example, he points out the importance of enhanced nutrition, warm-up and a number of other hygienic procedures, describes the ways that existed at that time to overcome the pain in the spleen and shortness of breath that occurred when running.

P.F. Lesgaft sees the value of these running practices, as well as athletic activities in general, in the "general education" and upbringing of a harmoniously developed citizen. Physical training of young people contributed to the formation of the skill of choosing the optimal bodily actions, discipline and self-control to achieve the goal, strengthened the body, promoted intellectual development, the ability to differentiate "impressions received", as well as accurately express their feelings and thoughts. The scientist believed that it was the culture of Ancient Greece, focused on the ideal of kalokagatia, that provides an example of the very humanistically oriented physical education that the great Russian teacher tirelessly promoted in his writings. 

 Types and significance of running exercises in the innovative system of physical education by P.F. Lesgaft

Turning to the school teaching of physical culture at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, P.F. Lesgaft bitterly notes the oblivion of the educational ideals of Antiquity in the dominant German and Swedish systems of physical exercises in Europe at the time of writing the Manual on Physical Education of School-age Children, based on extremely harmful (in his unshakable opinion) for the emerging child's body projectile ("hardware") gymnastics, formalism in the form of thoughtless imitation by children of the actions of the teacher (the method of "showing") and mainly military-applied orientation of physical training. P.F. Lesgaft believed that it was running, throwing and games as the simplest and most natural forms of physical activity, tested by Greek agons and proved their effectiveness as in the formation of a healthy and harmoniously developed body, as well as in the development of intellectual and volitional qualities, should become the main exercises in the school course of physical culture. The great Russian teacher has repeatedly stressed that running, despite its naturalness and obvious benefits, since it involves almost the entire muscular system, is not used enough in physical education. It is absolutely in vain that "hardware gymnastics" is preferred to him, which is very traumatic, unnatural, since it develops the forelimbs as supporting ones, and intensive swing movements generate dependence on too strong sensations, blunting the desire of students to engage in other types of physical activity. P.F. Lesgaft quite rightly notes such "benefits" from running as development grace of movements, dexterity, strength, endurance, the ability to calculate their physical resources to achieve a long goal: "In an elegant long run and in choosing the form most appropriate to this goal, the degree of physical development of the person and the ability to control their movements is accurately and correctly reflected; if the latter condition is really consciously and independently fulfilled, then you can say – and by your actions. Therefore, it is necessary to pay as much attention as possible to the running exercise and apply it in the widest possible sizes" ^{[14, p. 373]}.

It is very important that the teacher be able to convey to students not only the belief in the bodily benefits of running, but also its importance for character formation: distinguishing between "long" and "fast" running, P.F. Lesgaft determines that the first students are accustomed to perseverance of actions, and the second – to concentrated activity that requires significant stress in a short time period. When performing running exercises, he constantly pays attention to their intellectual load: a running schoolboy must constantly compare the distance traveled, time and effort expended – this skill is the ability to "control himself" both at high speed in sprint running and in a situation of fatigue in stayer running. Moreover: "The student must be very familiar with both the size of his step when walking and with various types of running, and also know the time required for each type of step, so that with each type of running he can determine both the space he ran and the time it took him for this, and On the contrary, he should be able to determine the type of running if he is given space and time" ^{[15, p. 116]}.

Also note the importance of the principle of gradualness when using running exercises at school. P.F. Lesgaft distinguished three "departments" (levels) of physical education: elementary, middle and senior, while at the higher stage the exercises of the lower are partially used. At the first level, students learn how to properly carry out "elementary" movements – walking, running and throwing, as well as their slightly complicated types, consisting in a gradual increase in the number of movements and their speed. Elementary-level exercises include flexion, extension, circular movements, turns both in and out, retraction and reduction of limbs. 

The secondary department aims to teach schoolchildren to strenuous and prolonged activities through the most economical implementation of simple movements and their appropriate choice. This already presupposes the development of endurance, independence and the manifestation of creative abilities in the child. Here exercises are performed with significantly (but within reasonable limits) increasing tension and duration. To do this, they practice running with weights (using weights, sticks and batons), fast ("loose") and long running, as well as running with obstacles, running on socks, running in different shoes (shoes, boots, boots) and running on different types of soil (hard, soft, loosened).  

Senior-level classes consist in mastering spatial relationships and in forming the ability to optimally distribute one's physical activity over time. Here, exercises are used that develop the eye, introduce the properties of various bodies (for example, the resistance of surfaces used for running), and also contribute to the differentiation of sensations generated by actions performed at different speeds. In physical education lessons, a student, according to P.F. Lesgaft, should, building the trajectory of his movements, choosing ways to get the desired result and calculating his strength, be able to practically apply the information obtained in the course of geometry and physics, i.e. his actions should be based not only on common sense, but also on theoretical knowledge. In this way, the relationship between theoretical and practical is achieved, since the student verifies the results of his own reasoning with the physical movement of his body. To achieve this goal, running with a metronome with a deceleration and acceleration of the pace is used; running for a while with the most accurate determination of the distance covered and running for a certain distance in order to test their assumptions about the time it took. 

The scientist pays great attention to running as a component of the game. The game is a form of "application" of those skills and abilities that were formed at the above levels of physical education. In this regard, games (the Manual on Physical Education of School-age Children describes 75 games) are also divided into "departments". Distinguishing between imitative, imitation (most often preschool – "horses", "firefighters", "doctors", etc.) ^{[18, pp. 49-54]} and educational (school period) games, P.F. Lesgaft emphasized that the school should not teach to imitate, but to act independently, take the initiative and make the most of the child's physical and intellectual potential. In the didactic theory of the educational game of the great Russian teacher, it is running that occupies a central place. Dividing the games into simple (individual) and complex (team, or "party"), P.F. Lesgaft describes in sufficient detail 17 simple games based on running and 14 complex running games. So, at the elementary level, single games with running should be used: "cats and mice", "harness", "geese-swans", "tag", "chanterelle", etc., in the middle and senior department – complex "party" games: "catch up", "day and night", "run and run away", "bar", "fox hunt", "you will lose prisoners", "coward (wounded and killed)", "made a mistake", etc. Running in the game becomes, on the one hand, more emotionally intense, and on the other, it obeys strict game rules and the interests of the team. Thus, game running teaches the child to remain disciplined even in a situation of gambling excitement and emotional uplift. 

It is important for P.F. Lesgaft to emphasize the military-applied value of running exercises. Here he also inherits the ancient Greek tradition, where, starting from the 65th Olympiad, hoplitodrom was practiced - the running of heavily armed infantrymen who competed in the speed of movement with a shield ("hoplon"), in greaves and in a helmet. In such equipment (from the V century BC they ran without restraining the movement of greaves, and from the IV century BC – completely naked and only with a shield) they had to run from 2 to 15 (the distance was not constant) lengths of the stadium. "Both throwing and running," notes P.F. Lesgaft, "constitute very essential elements of most military exercises, they constitute an advantageous preparatory school for shooting and for movements with varying speed" ^{[17, p. 305]}. At the same time, it is important for a scientist that the applied nature of physical exercises does not become dominant, and physical education classes do not have signs of drill. 

It is necessary to pay attention to P.F. Lesgaft's constantly traced connection of physical education with health care and hygiene of schoolchildren. He repeatedly points out that physical education lessons should be conducted daily, since the alternation of intellectual and physical labor is beneficial for the health of the student ("running deserves special attention in physical education: when exercising in it, we act on a large number of muscle groups of our body, as well as on the activity of organs with high tension, which is very significant in sedentary school life of a student" ^{[17, p. 83]}); running exercises should be carried out mainly on the street, preferably on a specially created site for this, and if a room is used for them, then it should be separated from classrooms, be large enough and ventilated, with a constantly maintained temperature regime and dust removal. p.F. Lesgaft gives recommendations on nutrition before and after running exercises, sportswear, and also requires that students who are exempt from physical education, but have the opportunity to attend school, be sure to attend classes and actively participate in the assimilation of theoretical material (since physical education should be carried out "by the word"). He also believes it is important to conduct an anthropometric study of schoolchildren at least twice a year according to a single methodology, while poorly developed or painfully altered parts of the body should be corrected with the help of specially selected exercises, including running. 

It is important to understand that not all the principles and elements of P.F. Lesgaft's physical education system have passed the test of time. So, today his adherence to mechano-Lamarckism, biologization of pedagogy, categorical rejection of the "method of display", absolutization of the Weber–Fechner law (irritations grow exponentially, and sensations – arithmetically), on the basis of which P.F. Lesgaft denied the usefulness for schoolchildren of projectile gymnastics, competition in physical education lessons, sports activities, etc. But modern researchers do not question the importance of running exercises for the harmonious development of a student, their importance not only for bodily improvement, but also for the actualization of the intellectual, volitional, moral and aesthetic potential of the individual. But not to question does not mean to use. Do many physical education teachers understand this importance, allocate enough space to running exercises in their teaching practice, apply dozens of types of running sports games in the classroom, involve students in extracurricular running classes? These are all rhetorical questions. But, for example, it is well known that the basis of the outstanding achievements of stayers from Kenya and Ethiopia is not some special "runner gene", but the mass and systematic nature of running from an early school age, the great desire of boys and girls from these countries to succeed in life on the basis of sports running. Unfortunately, in Russia, running as the most accessible type of physical activity for all ages does not have such popularity, which primarily affects the health of the nation, as well as our achievements not only in athletics, but also in other sports where running training is of great importance. All this shows the enduring significance of P.F. Lesgaft's legacy and necessitates further research, popularization, and most importantly, the application (with modern adjustments) of his system of physical education in the Russian school.

 Generalized presentation of the results of the study

1. The ideological foundations of P.F. Lesgaft's system of physical education go back to the ancient Olympic culture, Plato's teaching about education, the modern European (mainly English) education system, the humanism of the French enlighteners and the scientific heritage of J.B. Lamarck, I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov, the pedagogical experience of the Russian people embodied in the traditions of family education and games. P.F. Lesgaft's worldview is characterized as natural-historical materialism.

2. P.F. Lesgaft considered the harmonious development of personality to be the main goal of education, taking into account the anatomical, physiological and psychological characteristics of a particular child and his age group. The basis of personal development is the environment and exercises, the most effective is the expediently organized on a scientific basis educational process.

3. In his system of physical education, the great Russian scientist uses such pedagogical principles as movement in learning from simple to complex; from analysis to synthesis; consciousness and activity of students; learning "by the word"; accessibility and feasibility; systematicity and consistency; strength of assimilation. Teaching methods: oral presentation, independent work of students, walks, excursions, exercises, self-examination. Methods of education: practical (observations, impressions and their interpretation, independent choice of means of activity, overcoming obstacles); theoretical, or systematic: the conclusion of general provisions and truths, and then their application with experimental verification. 

4. Running exercises of various types are widely represented in the system of physical education of P.F. Lesgaft. The reasons for this are the naturalness of running for a person, the relative simplicity of movements, significant health benefits, great cognitive, educational and applied potential, as well as the successful experience of personal development through running exercises in Antiquity and in advanced European countries. 

5. In accordance with the idea of P.F. Lesgaft about the correlation of physical and intellectual-spiritual development, the functions of running exercises presented in Table 1 are established.

                                                                                                                                                                          Table 1

                        Functions of running exercises in P.F. Lesgaft's system of physical education

   Also, running exercises prepare young men for military service, perform a recreational function and develop the skill of finding the optimal ratio of the distance covered, time and effort expended.

6. The use of the whole variety of running practices used in P.F. Lesgaft's physical education system at school physical education lessons, as well as familiarization of schoolchildren with the positive impact of running exercises on health, intelligence, volitional and moral qualities of the individual will contribute to the popularization of this type of activity, the involvement of the masses in it, which is the most important prerequisite for the education of a harmoniously developed health improvement of the nation (running strengthens the immune system, develops general endurance and improves lung function, which is especially important in the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic) and running sports achievements of Russian athletes.