RESEARCH ON THE ORIENTATION TO SPORTSMANSHIP IN STUDENTS - FUTURE PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHERS

The formation of students' personalities depends on the teacher’s professional qualities and personality traits. In implementing the school subject’s educational tasks, the physical education teacher becomes the main factor in building the students’ moral behavior and relationships during the educational activity. The research aims to reveal the focus on sportsmanship as a leading personality trait of students – future physical education teachers. The study covered 134 students majoring in the specialty of ‘Physical Education and Sport Teacher’ at the National Sports Academy ‘Vassil Levski’ Methods: The main research method was the psychological questionnaire ‘Multidimensional Sportspersonship Orientation Scale’ (MSOS), adapted by M. Georgiev and D. Fenerova and developed by Vallerand, Briere, Blanchard, and Provencher. The results were processed mathematically and statistically using Frequency Analysis and the Mann-Whitney U-test. Results: We found a significant impact of students' gender and the type of sport they practice on their attitudes toward sportsmanship. Notably, students engaged in individual sports show more positive attitudes towards their opponents, the training process, the competition process, and the officials. Conversely, students involved in sport only for health demonstrate more unstable attitudes toward sportsmanship. Conclusion: The studied students preparing to become PE teachers actively engaged in sport demonstrate positive attitudes toward various manifestations of sportsmanship. The other students, who have not actively participated in sports but only for health reasons, demonstrate significantly lower levels of respect towards their opponents and officials and established rules and norms.