Research on Approaches of College Football Teaching Practice under the Background of Moral Education —Taking Baoding University for Example ()
1. Background of Courses for Ideological and Political Education
Moral education is an important guarantee of implementing the teaching goal of fostering virtue. Teachers should refine the ideological and political elements contained in the curriculum in the traditional classroom teaching. While they are integrating and absorbing these elements, the ideological and political elements of the curriculum itself are fully reflected in the classroom. In this way, institutions of higher education can build a teaching system in which the curriculum content and ideological and political education are parallel. In December 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at a national conference on ideological and political work that “moral education should be regarded as the central link of education, and ideological and political work should run through the whole process of education, so as to achieve the goal of whole-process education and all-round education, and strive to create a new situation in the development of China’s education cause” (Xi, 2016). In 2018, he said in a speech at a forum for teachers and students of Peking University, “the system of talents cultivation includes the discipline system, the teaching system, the textbook system and the management system with the ideological and political work system permeated it” (Xi, 2018). General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out in many speeches that ideological and political education is an important process and core link of university teaching. Promoting the reform of ideological and political education in colleges and universities is the inevitable requirement of the times and the only way to cultivate talents for national higher education. Relevant documents issued by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council clearly put forward that the construction of courses for ideological and political education is the key link to foster virtues. The educational concept advocates “people-centered education, moral education first”. Physical education curriculum is an important part of higher education and teaching, and features of both PE courses and sports items play a distinctive effect in moral education, especially the skill courses. The course itself carries the ideological and political elements which are more likely to be dug and integrated into teaching. PE courses should not merely make students develop a healthy body. It is also the duty of physical education to cultivate students’ interest in participating in sports activities and develop lifelong sports habit during the process of learning a sport. Just like what Tsinghua University advocates—“not being Tsinghua without sports”, PE teachers in colleges and universities should not only guide students to love sports activities and conduct sports skills, but also help students to shape excellent virtues.
2. The Current Situation of Carrying Out Courses for Ideological and Political Education in Baoding University
Under the guidance of the educational concept of “fostering virtue of the youth” and relevant documents, institutions of higher learning across the country have begun to emphasize the integration of elements of ideological and political education into teaching practice. On October 26, 2017, the Ministry of Education issued the Measures for the Implementation of Teachers’ Professional Certification in Colleges and Universities (Interim), which started the national teachers’ professional certification. Yancheng Teachers University, as one of the first batch of pilot universities to pass the professional certification of teachers’ education for secondary school, provided a strong reference for many colleges and universities to implement the certification. As a comprehensive normal college, Baoding University is also the only university which has its own college of physical education in Baoding and is qualified to recruit students with sports talents. The development of football in Baoding University can be said to be very mature. From the public PE courses to the professional PE courses, from the football associations to the football teams of the secondary colleges, football has a deep foundation in Baoding University. The College of Physical Education of Baoding University began to implement teachers’ professional certification of physical education majors in 2020. Various courses for PE majors had carried out the teaching reform. In the process, it is found that there are many differences between the traditional way of teaching and education concept of giving priority to moral education and focusing on ideological and political education. Football, as a dominant technical subject in the College of Physical Education, is one of special courses of physical education. Meanwhile, the football teacher actively participates in the teaching competition of integrating moral education into teaching, and the competition of curriculum design and examination reform scheme. In the construction of the football curriculum reform, the curriculum concept, teaching goals, teaching content, teaching method and assessment should be in accord with the concept of teachers’ professional certification. Course for ideological and political education are indispensable part of football as a special course. So, integrating ideological and political elements into these dimensions is undoubtedly the most important link to pass the teachers’ professional certification.
3. Characteristics of Football Teaching in PE Specialty in Baoding University
As a normal university, Baoding University enrolls more than 200 students with special abilities in sports as students of the College of Physical Education every year. Most of these students have received long-term and systematic track and field training in junior and senior high schools. They can pass the special test for college entrance examination and enter the university, which shows that the students have excellent physical quality and theoretical knowledge. As a compulsory course of the college of physical education, football courses are required for all students. After the compulsory courses, football elective courses can be set up according to students’ electives. It can be said that football courses have been comprehensively popularized in the college of physical education. In the process of many students participating in campus football activities, some students also participated in football refereeing work, and successively served as referees in various football matches hold in Baoding and Hebei Province.
In the process of football teaching, physical quality and theoretical knowledge basis of PE majors play an important role. During the process of football teaching, there is a significant difference in class performance and classroom efficiency. There are obvious differences in classroom effect and classroom rate. At the same time, sports students have a high degree of activity and are difficult to manage. These problems are also the main factors affecting the classroom. Therefore, it is an important process to choose appropriate teaching content and adopt effective teaching methods to guide and manage students to learn skills and cultivate noble virtues. The students can master theoretical knowledge, strategies and tactics of football through group cooperation and mutual evaluation. Through the learning mode of group work and group practical exercise, the students can be mobilized to actively participate in the practical teaching activities of football courses. On the other hand, the strategies and tactics of football can be used to constantly improve the professional skills of football. Through the study and practice of football referee work, students can establish the awareness of unity, cooperation, fair competition and law-abiding. They can develop an attitude of loving their job and be dedicated to fully carry forward the indomitable spirit of sports. Furthermore, students can continuously improve the communication ability and cultivate qualities of earnestness, pragmatism and optimism.
4. The Feasibility and Necessity of Integrating Ideological and Political Education into Football Teaching
As the most popular sport in the world, football is also an important part of the physical education curriculum in colleges and universities. This form of group activities itself contains unique ideological and political attributes. In the process of skill teaching and competition, football characteristics such as strong flexibility, high participation and intense confrontation also cultivate students’ athletic ability and a sense of teamwork all the time (Yue, 2018). In the former teaching practice, we have come across these ideological and political elements invisibly, but they have not been effectively extracted and integrated. Meanwhile, the process assessment and final examinations have not highlighted these elements. The professionals training program formulated by the college focuses on taking students’ disciplinary accomplishment, teaching ability and communication and cooperation as the graduation requirements of learning skills and completing teaching objectives. These three aspects are the best embodiment of moral education. Football can be taken as the carrier to make students have excellent disciplinary quality, have good moral character and solid theoretical foundation. Teaching ability is the comprehensive embodiment of students’ learning and teaching. Having excellent basic skills is the ability of physical education majors to gain a foothold in society. Having the corresponding teaching demonstration ability is an important way for students to show their own learning skills and achieve self-worth. Good cooperative ability cultivates students to have a strong sense of collectivism and responsibility. Students should be encouraged to participate in the referee work of various medium and large competitions in the society, so that their enforcement, sense of fairness and justice can be greatly improved. It is the best way of exploring the mutual infiltration and integration of ideological and political education with physical education to probe the ideological and political elements in football teaching according to the teaching objectives, training orientation and graduation requirements.
Throughout school sports in our country, football teaching runs from primary school education to higher education, especially in professional sports colleges and comprehensive universities. Moreover, football colleges have been set up separately. We can say that football teaching plays a significant role in China’s school sports teaching system. In July 2015, Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of Youth Campus Football, was issued jointly by the Ministry of Education, which makes football a leader in implementing moral education, educating people with sports and practicing socialist values among many sports programs. As the pioneer of deepening the reform of school sports, the significance of football teaching is not only in learning skills and building up a good physique and improving students’ health. The scientific selection and training, and diversified development channels help cultivate talents for the nation and integrate patriotism, socialist core values and indomitable spirit into the whole education process. Also, it makes solid foundation for social sports. The football education also needs to combine with ideological and political education to provide strong support and guarantee for its profound significance.
5. Educational Approach of Football Teaching from the Perspective of Moral Education
Adhere to General Secretary Xi Jinping’s speech as the guidance, institutions of higher learning should carefully read the relevant documents issued by the Ministry of Education and other departments. Depending on teaching resources of Baoding University, the institution should consult the talent training scheme developed by the college of physical education to fully implement the Party’s education policy and the fundamental task of fostering virtue. It is the task to train students with solid sports skills and good moral character, and promote students’ all-round development of body and mind. They should urge students to develop good exercise habits and lay a foundation for lifelong sports. As the sublimation and extension of basic education, higher education bears the mission of training builders and successors for socialism and tasks. Students can adapt to the society after graduation, create their own values, and contribute to the society, to the building of the Chinese dream of socialist rejuvenation by the way of constantly improving their own ability and the science literacy. Physical education courses can help students exercise their bodies, create the sunny image and develop positive personality (He & Qian, 2020).
5.1. The Ideological and Political Elements are Integrated into the Football Teaching Process
Building football moral education relies on a complete teaching process. It needs to plan formulation of syllabus in strict accordance with talent training programs and make the teaching plan and teaching contents with reference to syllabus. The assessment methods are not only limited to the skills test, and they should fully consider the student’s extracurricular learning and their ideological quality. Football teaching and training should adopt a variety of teaching methods. In the teaching process, we should pay attention to students’ learning situation and adjust the feedback of teaching effect promptly. We should focus on students’ absorption and output of skills, learning and presentation skills and attach importance to their inner quality and accomplishment. Classroom teaching is the foothold of football courses for ideological and political education. Rich and varied teaching activities can not only improve classroom efficiency but also stimulate students’ interest. The diversity of teaching content and the limited class time always contradict class hour, so it is the embodiment of teachers’ comprehensive ability to make reasonable teaching content, make full use of the spare time, integrate teaching content and extend it into after-class activities to make football become a part of students’ life. During the class, teachers integrate the ideological and political elements into the teaching to stimulate students’ sports and education feelings, and make football a hobby.
5.2. The Ideological and Political Elements are Integrated into the Football Events
Teaching ability is the comprehensive embodiment of students’ basic skills, while communication and cooperation is the main reflection of students’ integration into the group. In class, students learn football skills, training methods, game arrangement and referee knowledge. Football competition is an excellent way to infiltrate ideological and political elements in the course. Teachers should make students understand the rules and ask them to abide by the rules, and allow them to implement the rules in the process of refereeing. Rules are the core of maintaining the order of football and the guarantee of fair and equity in football sport. Nothing can be accomplished without norms or standards. Rules not only maintain the competition, but also restrict the participants of the competition. The establishment of the sense of rules is an important process of improving students’ own quality. When students participate in the competition as players, they can be stricter with themselves and follow their own rules after the transition from referee to player. Furthermore, they can consciously abide by the rules in other aspects, and then ask people around to promote the sense of rules, to improve the social order, so as to make the society more harmonious and civilized.
6. Views and Suggestions on Integrating Courses for Ideological and Political Education into Football Teaching in the College of Physical Education
6.1. Renewing the Traditional Teaching Concept of Physical Education Teachers; Improving Their Ideological and Political Cognition
Since ideological and political elements were integrated into teaching, the teaching effect has made remarkable progress. On the other hand, there are many related problems are exposed. As physical education teachers who work in the front line, we should always keep pace with the times and strive to overcome problems including the age, academic background, physical condition and any other problems. Following the pace of the times, teachers should seriously study the relevant documents issued by the Party Central Committee and the Ministry of Education. Teachers should always keep learning, constantly enrich their own teaching skills and experience, and innovate teaching concepts and teaching methods. In addition, the situation that students are asked to spend the whole class practicing certain skills should be avoided. On the contrary, PE teachers should pay attention to the classroom situation timely, so that they can adjust the students’ feedback, transform the teaching rhythm and increase richness of the class (Wu, 2018). The society is changing, and the ideas of the students enrolled each year are also changing. Only by standing at the forefront of the times and getting close to the students, can we better guide and teach the students. At the same time, students can have their favorite sports and contribute to strengthening the sports atmosphere of the school.
6.2. Participating Actively in Teacher Training; Improving Physical Education Teachers Ideological and Political Education Ability
Each year, school can carry out online training on ideological and political education, and teacher certification training on a regular basis. At the same time, the relevant teaching game and exam reform scheme competition can be hold. Participating in training and teaching competitions is the main way for college teachers to improve teaching quality and innovate teaching ideas. They can improve their teaching ability and theoretical knowledge, which helps them design the curriculum content more scientifically and cultivate students’ sports moral character and humanistic spirit. Young teachers should actively devote themselves to teaching and educating, and firmly insist that the best way to integrate ideological and political elements into physical education should combine physical education with moral education. They should give full play to their own skill advantages and make contributions to the construction of teachers.
6.3. Establishing a Scientific Teaching Evaluation and Supervision Mechanism to Ensure the Implementation of Courses for Ideological and Political Education
Schools usually have teaching supervision and inspection groups, and the secondary college also has its own teaching supervision group. The process of integrating ideological and political elements into other courses needs a sound and effective evaluation mechanism. The scientific and effective evaluation method can not only ensure that the teachers keep pace with the times, but also ensure that the ideological and political elements can be smoothly integrated into the teaching process, so as to ensure the teaching quality. In terms of the teaching evaluation, teachers who have outstanding teaching performance and high evaluation from students and work hard will be given appropriate rewards objectively. In the same way, teachers who have poor teaching quality and poor evaluation from students and even have teaching accidents will be given corresponding criticism and accountability. Sound teaching supervision system is the prerequisite to ensure teachers and teaching activities smoothly.
7. Conclusion
Since colleges and universities all over the country began to promote and implement the integration of ideological and political elements into teaching, quality courses, thesis of master’s and doctor’s and teaching activities related to courses for ideological and political education emerge in an endless stream. As an important link of teacher certification, teaching reform is imperative. It is inevitable to face some difficulties and complicated process to integrate ideological and political elements into football teaching. Young teachers in institutions of higher learning should actively participate in teaching and constantly try to integrate ideological and political elements into course education. They should comply with the trend of modern teaching development. There is an old saying “A long journey can be covered only by taking one step at a time”. Therefore, young teachers should have courage to undertake the responsibility and to practice. Only in this way can they make education reform achieve its goal, and make Baoding University, which has a long history, continue to shine. Also, the integration of college physical education curriculum with the ideological and political education can be promoted. A complete curriculum system can be built to improve the quality of teaching and make college football courses carry out perfectly.