FUNCTIONAL ABILITIES OF THE SCHOOL CHILDREN IN KOSOVO AND METOHIJA

The younger school age is one of the most important periods in the growth and development of a child, during which it is necessary to pay great attention to the development of the child’s functional abilities. The results of recent research, especially children of younger school age, indicate that there is a problem of a constant decline in the functional abilities in pupils of both sexes. This research was conducted on a sample of 139 second grade elementary school schoolboys and schoolgirls. Four variables were examined for which is considered to give a picture of the functional status of the students: heart rate at rest (FPUMI), heart rate after load (FPPOP), Harvard step test (FHAST), and vital lung capacity in cm3 (FVKAP). The main goal it was to determine whether there are differences in functional abilities between schoolboys and schoolgirls of the second grade of elementary school. The results of the multivariate analysis (MANOVA) have shown that there is a statistically significant difference between the schoolboys and schoolgirls in analysed functional abilities. A univariate analysis (ANOVA) revealed that schoolboys had better results in measurements of heart rate at rest (FPUMI) and heart rate after load (FPPOP). On the Harvard step test (FHAST) and vital lung capacity measurements (FVKAP) there were no significant differences between the schoolboys and schoolgirls. It was concluded that the current physical education curriculum does not contribute sufficiently to the development of the functional abilities of the schoolboys and schoolgirls of the junior school age.


INTRODUCTION
Under functional abilities that are of importance for person's physical activity, in physiological terms, aerobic and anaerobic abilities are included.They are very complex and depend on a number of factors, above all on the vegetative and endocrine system (Malacko & Popovic, 2001).There is no functional ability of the cardiovascular system common to all life situations, but a series of specific abilities for different activities and situations (Malacko & Rađo, 2004).Knowing the functioning of certain organs and systems under the influence of physical exercise is very important, especially in terms of dosage of the load which is usually done intuitively without knowing the essence of its impact on the body.
Sometimes a capable child was a child with good motor skills crucial to a certain sport.Nowadays a capable child is the one that possess a good "physi-2011).In Serbia, about 67.7% of the adult population is physically inactive (National Health Survey Serbia, 2006).
By performing moderate physical activity of 30 minutes one can produce positive health effects.Activities in school settings should be performed exclusively in aerobic conditions (Janssen & Le Blanc, 2010).Aerobic endurance represents the whole body's ability to maintain long-lasting physical activity and involve relatively large muscle groups.It is associated with the ability of the cardiovascular and respiratory system to maintain the delivery of oxygen to the engaged muscles during long-term physical activity (Radovanovic et al., 2009).For the development of aerobic capacity, fast and slow running in the nature should be used, running long sections with a moderate intensity of 60-70% in the heart rate zone (150-160 beats per minute) (Brown et al., 2000;Malacko & Rađa, 2004).Physical exercise in aerobic conditions positively influences the condition of the cardiovascular system, maintains a smooth muscularity of blood vessels, helps blood circulation, increases blood flow to all organs (Livengood et al., 1993).This contributes to the faster process of the exchange of matter and energy, deepens breathing, strengthens the breathing muscles, increases the vital capacity of the lungs.It can be said that physical exercise improves the overall psycho-physical condition and health of the organism (Viskic-Štalec et al., 2012; Kuna et al., 2012).It is a recommendation that children and young people should apply a physical activity that will last 90 minutes per day in aerobic conditions (Colley et al., 2011).Improving cardiorespiratory endurance can also be achieved by long-lasting swimming, steady running, cycling, dancing, fast walking (Committee on Sports Medicine, 1987).If a child develops a positive attitude towards physical exercise during a younger school age and masters certain motor skills, this will help him to overcome the tasks that he or she anticipates at later stages of overall life and sports development.Physical exercise at all times should be a challenge for the schoolchild.The teacher has an obligaion to constantly emphasize the importance and value of physical exercises, to create a habit among students to take care of their own body and improve their abilities, so that physical exercise becomes their everyday need.
A relatively small number of national studies and published papers relate to the functional abilities of the younger school age children.However, the status and trend of functional abilities of students was the subject of sporadic research of a different methodological and cognitive framework (Stojanovic, 1977;Zrnzevic, 1984;Krsmanovic, 1985;Đuraškovic, 2002;Kragujevic & Rakic, I., 2004;Zrnzevic, 2007;Milanovic, 2007;Radovanovic et al., 2009).The authors who deal with the problem of physical education curriculum in the younger school age state that teaching in this age period is one of the weakest links of a complex process of physical education teaching.They state that physical education curriculum does not cause significant changes in any segment of the anthropological status of children nor it positively affect the increase in functional and motor skills (Krsmanovic, B., 1985;Milanovic, 2007;Zrnzevic et al, 2013) even though this period of pre-school and younger school age is suitable for the development of functional abilities, especially for the cardiovascular and respiratory system (Zrnzevic, 2007;Žuvela et al., 2008).Insufficiently developed functional abilities cannot be attributed only by genetic factors, despite the fact that there is a certain inherent basis.They can be described as insufficient physical activity and irregular exercise.The influence on their development can be a significant factor in the overall development of the individual, especially when exercising begins in pre-school age (Sabo, 2004).In order to increase the functional capacity, the exercise must be done according to the principle of overload (De Vries, 1976).If there is no such overload (when the load exceeds the threshold value) there is no improvement in endurance as an important motor or functional capability (De Vries, 1976).
Bearing in mind that 97% of children attend elementary school and have regular classes of physical education, the obligation of the school as an important social institution is to promote physical activity and its regular application.Work on increasing functional abilities also represents educational work as it leads to the attainment of willing qualities: self-control, perseverance, persistence, responsibility, discipline, consistency, etc. (Zrnzevic, 2016), and acquired habits help students in their everyday life and work.Class teachers and physical education teachers play a vital role in the realization of the goals of physical education curriculum, and their education and professional competence should be a guarantee that using modern methods will adjust the process of teaching to students' interests.
The subject of research in this paper are functional abilities of the second-grade elementary schoolboys loading.Vital lung capacity value is one of the measures that can be used to estimate the state of functional abilities of students.
The following parameters were used to evaluate the function of the cardiovascular system and the general functional ability of the schoolchildren: • FPUMI -heart rate at rest, beat/min.It was measured using a stethoscope placed on the chest of schoolchildren in the projection of the top of the heart.

METHOD Subject sample
Functional abilities measurement was conducted on a random sample of 139 second-grade elementary schoolboys and schoolgirls from Zvecan, Leposavic and Raska (Republic of Serbia).The measurement was carried out in June 2016, in the presence of class teachers, with healthy schoolboys and schoolgirls who were implementing regular physical education curricula.Schools that participated in this non-experimental observation were located at a relatively short distance, while the teaching of physical education at the younger school age took place under the guidance of class teachers.
In line with the ethical principles of research, school directors and parents have agreed that measurements of functional abilities of students can be carried out within regular school teaching at classes of physical education.

Variable sample
For monitoring and evaluation of the response of individual organic systems to physical load during physical education, the most appropriate are the registration of changes in the cardiovascular system.The reactions of these systems in school conditions are monitored based on the heart rate variation in rest before starting the activity, during and after physical In addition to the measures of reaction of the cardiovascular system, the vital capacity of the lung was also measured (spyrometer used to measure vital lung capacity up to 7500cm 3 ).Measurement of vital lung capacity is of an invaluable value and represents a screening for the general health of the respiratory system, in the same way as blood pressure provides general information on the condition of the cardiovascular system (Miller et al., 2005).Vital capacity represents the amount of air that can be pulled out of the lungs after full inhalation.Its value depends on the general physical development of the child and with the growth and development it constantly increases.The lung volume and capacity increase until physical maturity is reached (Stojanovic, 1977).

Data processing
In this reasearch of non-experimental observation of the transfersal type, the measured values were statistically processed and analyzed through descriptive statistics and the determination of differences -analysis of variance.

RESULTS WITH DISCUSSION
Tests used in assessing the functional abilities of children should engage large muscle groups; the ef-fort must be measurable and repeatable.Testing conditions should be comparable and reproducible, children must have a good test and their health must not be exposed to danger.They can only be applied in healthy individuals who are able to attend physical education classes (Djuraskovic, 2002).
When performing functional tests, it is necessary as a functional unit, at the same time to monitor the function of cardiovascular and respiratory system.The respiratory system in healthy subjects does not represent a limitation factor during physical load, because it has large reserves and is rarely exhausted to the end (Wasserman et al., 1999).
Based on the results obtained from this non-experimental observation it can be concluded that there is a statistically significant difference in the functional abilities at the multivariate level (P = 0.002) among the schoolboys and schoolgirls of the second grade.A statistically significant difference at the univariate level for the benefit of schoolboys, was recorded in the variables: heart rate at rest (FPUMI) (p = .012)and heart rate after load (FPPOP) (p = .040).Statistically significant difference was not found in the variables for estimation of adaptation of the cardiovascular and respiratory system to the physical effort using modified Harvard step test (FHAST) (p = .055)and vital lung capacity (FVKAP) (p = .330)(Table 2 and  Table 3).This research has shown that schoolboys and schoolgirls in Kosovo and Metohija and from the south of Serbia have lower values of vital lung capacity (FVKAP) compared to the values obtained in previous studies (Stojanovic, 1977;Krsmanovic, 1985;Kragujevic & Rakic, 2004;Zrnzevic et al., 2013).The children of the younger school age have shallow, superficial and accelerated respiration, which at rest amounts to about 22 to 23 inhales, or exhales per minute.With an adult, this is considerably less and amounts to about 15 to 16 inhales or exhales per min-ute.Because of the relatively weak muscle that participates in the breathing process, the vital capacity in the period of the younger school age, at the beginning is about 1450cm 3 for boys and 1400cm 3 for girls and by the end of this age period it is about 2250cm 3  for boys and about 2100cm 3 for girls (Kragujevic & Rakic, 2004).
Persons who are training have a lower respiratory minute volume at the same load, higher blood circulation in the lungs, higher strength and endurance of the respiratory muscles as compared to the non-training ones (Jakovljevic et al. 2012).Significant increase in vital capacity is possible due to the increased physical activity, and in order to estimate the intensity of the load, we can use heart rate values: heart rate values of 130 to 150 beats (low-intensity work); from 150 to 170 beats (medium-intensity work); from 170 to 180 beats (sub maximal intensity); over 190 beats per minute (work of maximum intensity) (Kragujevic, 1985).
It is difficult to determine the heart rate at rest, because the condition of the physical stress of the organism and the emotional state are difficult to maintain under control.Lower heart rates at rest provide a greater possibility of adjusting to increased body strains.So far, research has shown that in the trained individuals there is a decrease in the value of the heart rate at rest and the value of the heart rate after loading (Okicic, 2003;Radovanovic et al., 2009;Zrnzevic et al., 2013); The values of the heart rate at rest and after the load are higher than the values obtained on the same population in previous research, which is considered a negative phenomenon (Djuraskovic, 2002;Kragujevic & Rakic, 2004;Zrnzevic et al., 2013).
The Harvard Step Test measurement results (FHAST), which was used us to estimate physical fitness for physical effort, indicated a low level of functional abilities of the schoolboys and schoolgirls.The average value of the index of adaptation of the cardiovascular and respiratory system to physical effort (FHAST) is 44.41 for schoolboy and 43.42 index points for schoolgirls, which is closer to the limit between medium and low functional abilities (Table 2).The obtained values are lower in comparison to the previous research (Djuraskovic, 2002;Kragujevic & Rakic, 2004;Zrnzevic et al., 2013).
Children of the younger school age should be allowed to perform daily physical exercise, they should be recommended to perform activities through athletics, gymnastics and swimming, because they are the activities that are exerting most effective impact on the psychosomatic status of children (Georgiev et al., 2009).Schools need to engage children more through various activities, and parents should be encouraged to practice with children as well.It is important that all family members are involved, so that physical activity becomes an integral part of the lifestyle of each family (Rowland & Boyajian, 1995).Proper planning, programming, and dosage of physi-cal load can influence changes in the parameters for the assessment of cardiorespiratory abilities.The exercise intensity should be at least 50% of the maximum heart rate in order to lead to positive changes and satisfactory results.

CONCLUSION
Systematic exercise and optimal physical load lead to significant positive changes in the development of the cardiovascular and respiratory system.There is an increase in vital capacity, a decrease in the heart rate at rest and after the exercise, the functions of these organs gradually adapt to effort, which contributes to the economy of their work.
Measurements and analysis of the obtained parameters in this paper have shown that there is a statistically significant difference between the schoolboys and schoolgirls of the second grade in selected functional abilities.Statistically significant difference was not found in the index of adaptation of the cardiovascular and respiratory system to the physical effort and vital lung capacity.
The functional abilities of the schoolboys and schoolgirls are at a lower level as compared to the previous research.
Systematic physical exercise can greatly influence the proper development and the elimination of the negative impact of modern lifestyles.The right choice of exercises, optimal intensity and the length of their duration is an important prerequisite to ensure the proper development of organism and organ systems.The most suitable activities for the development of the functional skills in the younger school age are: swimming, cycling, steady running, sports games, elementary games with running, rope skipping, and polygons.
Physical education teachers can use the results of this observation to assess the status and flow of students' adaptation to the existing physical education program, but also to question whether the program contents are in accordance with the needs of students.
Following the aim of this observation it can be concluded that teachers in the teaching process need to dedicate a special attention to the development of functional abilities of school age students.Physical education curriculum needs more important programs and material support, as well as more active involvement of children in sports activities in order to stop the trend of decline in functional abilities.

Table 2 .
Basic descriptive indicators of functional abilities of teh the second grade students Legend: MIN -the minimum recorded measurement result; MAX -the maximum recorded measurement result; M -arithmetic mean; SD -standard deviation; Skew -skewness of distribution of results); Kurt -kurtosis (elongation of distribution of results); KS-p -Significance of Kolmogorov-Smyrnov test