INTRODUCTION

Recognized by national and international researchers and scholars, reflection assumes an important role in teacher training and becomes a path for the improvement of teaching practices and, consequently, for the professional development process (^{ALARCÃO, 2011}; ^{MARTINS; SANTOS , 2012}; ^{MENESES; PONTE, 2006}; ^{PASSOS; NACARATO; FIORENTINI; MISKULIN; GRANDO; GAMA; MEGID; FREITAS; MELO, 2006}; ^{SARAIVA; PONTE, 2003}; ^{SCHÖN, 1983}; ^{SERRAZINA, 2013}; among others).

In this sense, the teacher is also discussed as a reflective professional, whose conduct goes beyond the description of what he does in the classroom and also presupposes questioning practical situations. Thus, the teacher upon reflection establishes dialogue (^{ALARCÃO, 2011}, p. 49) with himself; with others, including those who built referential knowledge before us and also with his own situation. In an interview, researcher Isabel Alarcão points out that the teacher, equipped with an interrogative spirit, in addition to the commitment to teach mathematical concepts well or to read short stories, needs to be able to raise questions, such as why is the student not learning, what are the social issues that prevent him from advancing in learning and also whether the curricula are well designed or should be modified.

Therefore, initial and continuing training courses must be designed to provide the teacher with opportunities to reflect his own experience, with studying and deepening of knowledge (^{ABRANTES; PONTE, 1982}; ^{SERRAZINA, 1999}); reconstruction of his own knowledge and practices; and development of coherent ways of thinking and acting (^{FERREIRA, 2006}) and so must the programs and projects linked to them - teacher training courses.

Thus, the relevance of this study is justified by the need to analyze whether the Institutional Program for Teaching Initiation Scholarships - PIBID (^{BRAZIL, 2016}), in the context and the way it is being developed, has been configured as an opportunity to develop reflection capacity in the participating actors.

To this end, in this article, the participation of a teacher in training, who is a Pedagogy student and member of PIBID⁵ is analyzed. In particular, we seek answers to the following questions: Within the Project Scope, was there room for reflection? If so, how much importance did the future teacher attribute to the reflection developed in this context?

In the next section, we present the theoretical approach adopted in our studies, which deals with teacher training, in particular with reflection. Then, we inform the methodology, the research context, the research participants and the way through which the information was collected. Then, we report the data collected - presentation and analysis. In the subsquent section, the results are discussed and, finally, the concluding section brings some considerations about our interpretations.

TEACHER TRAINING AND REFLECTION

The training of teachers, according to the theoretical perspectives that support our studies, must be planned to provide the protagonism of teachers in the teaching professional development processes, which imply learning “[…] usually achieved through the combination of reflection, experimentation and dialogue with other people ”(^{DAY, 2001}, p. 19). Therefore, discussions about professional development processes also focus on aspects that contribute to the effectiveness in developing the capacity for reflection (^{PINHEIRO, 2019}).

^{Schön (2000}), for whom professional knowledge translates into a set of competences marked by the practice of reflection at different levels, states that reflection is the process through which teachers learn, alone or in collaboration with other education professionals, from the analysis and interpretation of their own practical activities. Thus, they are able to face new situations and make appropriate decisions (^{ALARCÃO, 2011}).

Regarding the object of reflection, ^{Serrazina (2013}) affirms it is everything related to the teacher's performance in the action of teaching, for example, the context, methods, teaching purposes, knowledge and abilities to be developed by students, the teacher's difficulties, knowledge and weaknesses. In the discussions made by this author, she argues that reflection generates action and that, as reflection happens, the teacher becomes more confident in his ability to teach, since reflection allows him to develop the ability to recognize his weaknesses and identify his potentials at the same time, because “[...] changes in practices seem to occur when teachers gain self-confidence and are able to reflect on their practices” (^{SERRAZINA, 1999}, p. 163). Thus, reflecting on what he teaches and how he teaches and being able to evaluate his practices, the teacher will change the way he teaches.

Following the same direction, ^{Schön (1983}, 2000) states that reflection is the ideal way for teachers to face different situations that arise in their practice. For this author, reflection is understood as “reflection in action”, which happens in the course of the action itself, “reflection on action”, which is the mental reconstruction of the action to be analyzed retrospectively and “reflection on reflection in action”, which can harmonize the teacher's future action. Also according to ^{Schön (2000}, p. 33), reflection on action “[...] reveals a process of knowing in action, which encompasses strategies, understanding phenomena and ways of conceiving a task or a problem appropriate to the situation ”. He also affirms that “reflection on action” is the process through which the teacher becomes able to face new situations and make appropriate decisions, however it is the “reflection on reflection in action” (metareflection) that helps the professional to progress in his development.

In the same perspective, ^{Zeichner (2000}) argues that reflection is a collective activity, although it may be also individual sometimes. Reflection happens especially when the teacher takes into consideration what was thought by another person. In this sense, it occurs through collective work, without which reflection is compromised. Furthermore, Zeichener stresses that teachers should not restrict reflection to the way theories from other schools are applied or developed. He writes: “One way of thinking about reflective practice is to view it as the surfacing of the teacher's theories for analysis and discussion” (^{ZEICHENER, 1993}, p. 21).

From these and other studied references, we understand that reflection is a process that has, among others, the following characteristics: a close relationship with the classroom; it is an ongoing process; it refers to the analysis and, consequently, to the improvement of the teacher 's own practice - or the practice of others, when it interferes in the development of their reflection capacity - and focuses mainly on the pedagogical and curricular aspects. Regarding the last characteristic, ^{Lee (2005}) underlines the importance of teachers developing the ability to reflect on the reason of the adoption of certain teaching strategies and on the results generated in the students' learning.

Studies on reflection content also include discussions on the depth with which the reflection is carried out (^{LEE, 2005}; ^{SARAIVA, PONTE, 2003}). In "The collaborative work and professional development of the mathematics teacher", ^{Saraiva and Ponte (2003}) observed that the teachers participating in the study initially focused their reflection on mathematical concepts, but over time, the reflection’s focus turned to questions related to teaching practice and intervention outside school. In the same study, the authors state that the observation of other teachers' class is a starting point for reflection on professional practice.

Regarding the favorable context for developing the reflection process, focus of this investigation, ^{Serrazina (2010}, p. 7) states that reflection takes place in a context in which there is collaborative work, whose implications, in practice, allow to "Capitalize on energies, provide increased support, multiply perspectives and enrich reflection". In this sense, the school, as a place par excellence, where knowledge is shared and experiences are built, is as important as reflection itself. With regard to experiences, school is important as it becomes the object of analysis and reflection.

^{Clarke (2000}) affirms “teaching is reflecting”, therefore, reflection is an essential and intrinsic action to practice - an activity in which the teacher plays an essential role (^{SCHÖN, 1983}). Therefore, we agree that it is equally important to be aware of how to develop it, little or more in depth, when teachers identify existing problems and choose strategies to solve them in a reasoned and conscious way (^{PINHEIRO, 2019}). However, the quality of reflection (^{ALARCÃO, 2011}; ^{MARTINS; SANTOS, 2008}; ^{NÓVOA, 1995}) is conditioned by factors, such as an environment favorable to discussion and sharing of meanings, time availability, teacher knowledge and emotional factors (^{SARAIVA; PONTE, 2003}). In addition, ^{Serrazina (1999}) warns of the importance of having someone who helps the teacher to reflect on his own practice.

Still regarding the role of reflection, ^{Passos et al. (2006}) consider that reflection on the practice, in particular on the teaching work itself, is a context of great value to the teacher’s personal and professional development, since it helps him to problematize and produce strangeness about what is taught and why it is taught in a certain way and not in another.

Finally, we consider it relevant to emphasize that reflection generates knowledge. However, for each teacher's experience to become knowledge, a systematic, individual and collective analysis of practices is necessary, which must take place between peers, at school and in training contexts (^{NÓVOA, 2001}).

METHODOLOGY, SCENARIO, PARTICIPANTS IN RESEARCH AND DATA COLLECTION

This study falls within the scope of qualitative research of interpretative nature (^{BOGDAN, BIKLEN, 1994}). This is an investigation developed within the scope of institutionalized PIBID at Pitágoras University - ^UNOPAR - Londrina-PR through the Teacher Training, Literacy and Diversity Project. To this Project are added the subprojects Literacy and Diversities in the School Context, whose purpose is to explore tasks that favor the development of skills such as coding, interpreting and expressing in multiple languages; Playing, Telling and Solving Problems, whose purpose is to reflect on mathematical literacy, which refers to the ability of identifying and understanding the role of mathematics in the modern world; and the subproject Thematic workshops as tools for the teaching-learning process for diversity, whose purpose is centered on the development of General Competencies established by the National Common Curricular Base - BNCC (^{BRASIL, 2017}).

University’s professors, area coordinators, teachers under training, undergraduate students and supervisory teachers of public schools in the municipal teaching network of Londrina - PR participated in PIBID. The data analyzed for this publication are related to the experiences lived by one of the Project's members, an undergraduate Pedagogy student, and were collected in written documents - reflective memorial, report, scientific projects produced by the licensee - and semi-structured interviews.

Poliana⁶ is a student under initial teacher training and had her first experience in PIBID in the third semester of Pedagogy course. The activities developed by her are linked to the Subproject Playing, Telling and Solving Problems. Upon being invited to participate in this study, Poliana readily accepted, authorizing us to read and analyze the documents she produced, and was also willing to participate in the interviews. For this text, results from the interviews will be considered above all. It is noteworthy that, up to the date of the interview - early 2020 - Poliana had already been developing actions within the scope of PIBID for two years.

In the analysis, we established and considered, in the light of the theoretical framework and the questions referenced in the introduction of this text, the following categories: experiences that led to reflection; content and depth of reflection; and importance of reflection.

PRESENTATION AND RESULT ANALYSIS

In this section, we present the interpretations of the statements collected during the interviews, as well as analysis of the textual production carried out by the participant. To facilitate reading, we chose to structure the themes that emerged from the interpretation of the data.

DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

During the entire interview with Poliana, we were able to perceive the importance she attributed to individual reflections, when writing the memorial, and collective reflections carried out by the nucleus considering the writing of the memorials. In this sense, it is significant to mention the study by ^{Passos et al. (2006}), in which they affirm, when referring to the process of reflection on practice, that reflection gains strength when mediated by writing and collective reflection.

Writing - whether in the form of narratives or class reports - allows to deepen reflection, even triggering metacognition. When writing, the teacher becomes aware of his own learning process (^{PASSOS et al., 2006}, p. 201-202).

We also noticed that Poliana showed a lot of interest in core meetings, always referencing the importance she attributed to the orientations of the coordinators in planning the activities that would be developed at school: "Everything I learned and what the teachers commented on the reality of a school I saw happening right there in front of me and this made me reflect (Interview with Poliana, 2020)." Thus, the importance of someone who leads the teacher to speak and question in the process of reflection is evidenced, because, although reflection occurs naturally to a certain extent, it needs to be stimulated as much as possible, so that it leads the teacher to broaden and improve his view of the student's teaching and learning and, thus, broaden his professional knowledge (^{DAY, 2001}; ^{SERRAZINA, 1999}).

Based on Poliana's statements during the interview, we considered that she was able to experience the challenges that were imposed daily in the context of the school and that, by reflecting on them, she had the opportunity to reaffirm her interest in teaching, which was born, according to her, from the relationships previously established with children in pastoral groups of the Church of which she is part. Her choice for pedagogy was not immediate, because her interest was initially in the psychology course. From the point of view of teacher training, this is an important aspect, since the life stories of teachers influence, to some extent, what they know about teaching and what their role in education and society will be, in general (^{DAY, 2001}).

Regarding the content of the reflection, this was focused on the experiences observed and/or lived in school each week: orientations on teaching; study and planning of the activities to be developed with students. We consider that Poliana, when referring to such experiences lived in PIBID, still demonstrates to reflect on, for example, the knowledge related to pedagogical issues only, highlighting more general aspects, as occurred, for example, when we asked about her perception of students' learning about a mathematical content explored in the classroom: "First we told a story about the concepts and then performed activities. Afterwards, a game was made for them to fixate the content and all developed well" (Interview with Poliana, 2020).

However, in this sense, the literature assures us that reflection, as well as its depth, evolves over time (^{LEE, 2005}; Hail; BRIDGE, 2003). In addition, we emphasize that other researchers, such as ^{Day (2001}), point to collective reflection as an effective strategy to promote reflective action, since the involvement of another person, willing to ask and confront ideas, drives the concretion, analysis and evaluation of teaching. In this same perspective, ^{Serrazina (1999}) argues that the continuous questioning of and about the practice of each teacher involved in the reflection contributes to the improvement and deepening of the understanding of the aspects involved in it.

By stating: "I learned a lot from teachers and students", Poliana points out that reflection produces knowledge and that it is achieved, mainly collectively (^{ZEICHNER, 2000}), through interaction with other teachers in the school and from the student's manifestations. We believe that the awareness developed by Poliana is an indication that the experiences lived in PIBID will be of great importance for her to find paths that lead her to the teaching practice knowledge: how to plan, develop and evaluate her classes; how to approach or explore the concepts; which tasks to propose and why; which learnings students can develop, for example.

Although we do not have enough elements to make a more consistent statement regarding Poliana's future practice, we believe that, in the exercise of the profession, she will seek, in her own practice, in the students and other school professionals, elements to reflect and develop teaching in a way that conducts students to learn with understanding. In addition, based on the data presented in the previous section of this text, we interpreted that PIBID allowed her to experience situations similar to those that will be found in the teaching activity in the future, which led her to reflect in her own training practice.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

We return to the questions posed in the introductory section of this text, whose focus lied on the search for elements indicating whether PIBID, as developed in the investigated institution, was presented as a space for the reflection of its participants. If so, the importance that Poliana, a Pedagogy student and member of the Program, who collaborated with the production of the analyzed information, attributed to the reflection developed in this context should be pointed ourt.

The results highlight the diversity of experiences in the context in which PIBID was developed, which contributed to the beginning of a process of reflection among its participants, including observation and conducting activities at school; writing reflective memorials; follow-up meetings, with guidance from the coordinators; collective discussions; production and presentation of works published in annals of scientific events.

Poliana considered both her participation in the Project and the opportunities for reflection of great importance for her training. “[...] as a graduate student and participant in PIBID, I learned a lot, since teachers have enough knowledge to comment on their experiences and help us to reflect on the activities we performed at school”, reported Poliana during the interview. We believe that the other members of PIBID share, to some extent, the same feeling.

Thus, in view of the results presented and discussed earlier, we may infer that the experiences lived in PIBID had implications for the formation of Poliana, in terms of starting a process of reflection on and about practice. Thus, we may also affirm that the Institutional Program for Teaching Initiation Scholarships can be configured as a favorable context for the development of the teacher's personal and professional reflection capacity, since the experiences lived by the participants can be problematized, considering, for example, “what we teach and why we teach one way and not another” (^{PASSOS et al., 2006}).

Particularly, when it comes to the interview with Poliana, we consider that, regarding the teaching of specific subjects and contents, her reflections still occur in a shallow manner. In this sense, regarding the reflection process and the questioning action intrinsic to it, we agree with the researchers (^{ALARCÃO, 2011}; ^{SCHÖN, 1983}; ^{SERRAZINA, 1999}; among others), who affirm that reflection requires knowing how to question, which is not an easy task and demands a constant exercise of discussion and analysis of the practice. This statement may be interpreted from several perspectives and, even considering the positive experiences reported by the participant, we should draw attention to the fact that the teacher education is a continuous process, which demands the search for spaces to discuss and deepen joint reflection on issues related to education.

Thus, the analysis of the discussions undertaken in this publication makes us highlight the central role of the coordinators, who, in this case, assume the role of teacher trainers directly responsible for the quality of reflection developed by teachers under training within the scope of the Project. This role is essential in the professional development of the teacher, in all its aspects, whether he is in a process of initial or continuous training.⁷