Physical education of the ukrainian cossacks as a holistic pedagogical system: a historical and pedagogical reconstruction

Abstract

Topicality. Preserving and scientifically interpreting the historical and pedagogical heritage of the Ukrainian Cossacks is an important area of contemporary educational research. Despite the considerable number of historical and historical-pedagogical studies, the system of physical education of the Ukrainian Cossacks has mostly been examined fragmentarily, without a comprehensive analysis of its structure, functional regularities, and pedagogical foundations. The purpose of the study. To reconstruct historically and pedagogically the system of physical education of the Ukrainian Cossacks, substantiate its conceptual foundations, structure, and functioning, and develop original models of the prerequisites for its formation and structural-functional organization. Material and methods of the research. The study is theoretical and historical-pedagogical in nature. Its source base comprised historical sources, works by Ukrainian historians, and contemporary studies on the history of physical culture, folk pedagogy, and military education. The study employed complementary methods, including analysis, synthesis, systematization and generalization of scientific literature, historical-comparative, historical-genetic and systems methods, historical-pedagogical reconstruction, and theoretical modeling. Research results. The findings substantiate that the physical education of the Ukrainian Cossacks constituted an integral pedagogical system formed under the influence of historical, social, military, natural-geographical, spiritual-cultural, and folk-pedagogical factors. Its purpose, pedagogical principles, subjects, means, methods, organizational forms, stages of training, and educational outcomes were identified. An original conceptual model of the prerequisites for the formation of the system was proposed, its means were classified, and a structural-functional model was developed to illustrate the interrelationships among its main components and the logic of its functioning. Conclusions. It has been established that the physical education of Ukrainian Cossacks constituted a coherent, historically developed pedagogical system based on the unity of physical, moral and volitional, spiritual, and military-applied education. Its characteristic features were consistency, continuity, uninterrupted development, and practical orientation, while its functioning was ensured through the interaction of the family, community, mentors, and the military community.