The impacts of PIBID on pre-service teacher education: A state of knowledge review

1 Introduction

Among the programs that aim, among other aspects, to contribute to teacher training and the permanence of students in undergraduate courses in Brazil, is the Institutional Program for Teaching Initiation Scholarship (Pibid), which makes up, together with other programs and normative acts, the National Teacher Training Policy. Disposed within the scope of the Ministry of Education (MEC), the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) and the National Education Development Fund (FNDE) by Normative Ordinance No. 38, of December 12, 2007, and regulated by Decree No. 7,219, of June 24, 2010, Pibid aims, among other aspects, to promote the initiation into teaching, contributing to the improvement of teacher training at a higher level and to the improvement of the quality of basic education (Brasil, 2010).

Among the objectives of Pibid is the integration between basic and higher education (Brasil, 2010, 2019), one of the factors that many scholars consider necessary for the development of initial training and for the implementation of a global teacher training policy. Such defense is also found in article 43 of Law no. 9.394/1996, which establishes the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDBEN), also providing in its article 62, paragraph 5:

The Federal Government, the Federal District, the States and the Municipalities will encourage the training of teaching professionals to work in public basic education through an institutional scholarship program to initiate teaching to students enrolled in undergraduate, full degree courses in higher education institutions (Brasil, 1996, art. 62).

Some researchers (Garcia, 2010; Garcia; Vaillant, 2017; Gatti et al., 2019; Kemmis; Heikkinen, 2011; Nóvoa, 2017; Zeichner, 2010) discuss experiences of teacher professional insertion developed in different countries, such as Argentina, Chile, the United States, Canada, England, among others. These experiences include programs aimed at students still in training - as is the case, in Brazil, of Pibid - and those aimed at teachers in their first years of professional activity, in view of their transition from students to teachers. The period of insertion or initiation to teaching and the activities that accompany it, as well as the form of organization and the policy that underlies such programs, vary between different countries. However, in all cases, the objective is to overcome the gap between initial training and professional practice and the apparent dichotomy between the knowledge acquired at the university and the practical school reality, factors that, as the literature points out, can hinder the implementation of public policies for teacher training.

Thus, considering Pibid as a program that integrates Capes' National Teacher Training Policy and in view of its objectives for the training and appreciation of basic education teaching, we aim with this work to present and share the partial resultsof a broader and ongoing research project that aims to analyze the positive and negative impacts and the contributions, limitations and challenges of Pibid in achieving its objectives within undergraduate teacher education in higher education institutions in the state of Paraná. Among its specific objectives, we propose the identification of the main results already achieved by relevant research that analyzed the impacts of the Program on the pre-service teacher training. It is on this specific objective that we focus this work.

2 Method and procedures

This is a bibliographic study with a qualitative approach of the state of knowledge type (Romanowski; ENS, 2006). Between August and December 2024, a survey of articles made available in the main academic and scientific repositories and indexes was carried out: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Capes Journal Portal, Scopus and Google Scholar. In order to identify the works that deal with the central theme of this study, we carried out the advanced search using the following Boolean descriptors and operators: (1) PIBID; OR (2) Institutional Program for Teaching Initiation Scholarship; OR (3) initiation to teaching AND (4) student; OR (5) scholarship holder; OR (6) student. Such terms/words were searched in the item "abstract" of the articles. Across all search platforms, the same search strategy was used to ensure methodological rigor.

In SciELO, 78 papers were found; in the Scopus portal, 86 papers were identified; in the Google Scholar portal, 301 papers were found; and, in the Capes Journals Portal, 392 papers were identified. However, some of the articles selected in this survey were present in more than one database (especially in Google Scholar), which required, at the time of re-reading the material, the exclusion of repeated works.

After reading the abstracts of these works, we selected those that immediately met the research inclusion criteria: articles that brought the analysis of empirical data (interviews, questionnaires, observations) and experience reports on the influences/impacts of Pibid on the training of pre-service teachers. In this process, review papers and theoretical essays were excluded. Based on this criterion, having also discarded repeated studies (found in more than one repository), a total of 59 articles published in journals from 15 Brazilian states and the Federal District were selected, with a prevalence of journals from the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul. Three articles linked to international journals were also selected, indexed in the aforementioned repositories. Identified with the research banks, the selected material was collected by downloading the full texts of the articles, so that it was possible to read them in full and start the data analysis stage.

The third stage, data analysis, was not restricted to the descriptive aspect of the productions, but involved the analysis and categorization of the selected works, so that it was possible to reveal their approaches and perspectives on the object of study (Lüdke; André, 2014). There were two categories of analysis elaborated: 1) possibilities and contributions of Pibid to the training of scholarship students; and 2) difficulties, limits and challenges of Pibid for the training of scholarship students. In addition to the exploratory and descriptive work, the data analysis was carried out based on the interpretive-critical and problematizing perspectives proposed by Marconi and Lakatos (2010).

3 Pibid and its impacts on the training of pre-service teachers

Initially, we present in Table 1 the contributions and possibilities of Pibid, indicated by the articles analyzed.

Table 1 presents a significant number of papers (59 articles) that discuss the contributions and possibilities of Pibid for the training of scholarship students. Regarding the relationship between theory and practice, two inseparable elements of pedagogical work, 48 studies indicate the role of Pibid in the approximation between university and school for the development of integral and cooperative training of students. With the training developed in universities and the co-training made possible by the collaborative work with supervising teachers of basic education, the articles highlight the valorization of the school as a formative space and the knowledge of experience as one of the sources of professional learning in teaching, an aspect also discussed by 59 of the articles analyzed.

According to Tardif (2014), future teachers need to acquire practical training, direct experience in the future field of work, combined with academic training on specific and pedagogical knowledge, so that they can know and analyze the practical aspect of the profession. In this way, when they assume their functions, these teachers will feel safer, especially to face difficult working conditions.

It is therefore a matter of providing, at the time of training, the association between two clearly inseparable aspects of teaching activity: form and content, theoretical knowledge and practical know-how. According to Saviani (2009), since the dissociation between these two aspects occurs through a process of abstraction, to recover the inseparability it is necessary to consider the teaching act as a concrete phenomenon, that is, as it effectively occurs within schools. Therefore, it is necessary to favor the integration of the undergraduate student in the school routine throughout their training process, a goal proposed by Pibid. In this perspective, the undergraduate does not have a view on the practice only by being taught about it, but also by experiencing it and discussing the possibilities of its action, based on the theoretical references acquired and discussed in the initial training process.

Regarding the interpersonal relationships between supervisors and scholarship holders, Rabelo and Coelho (2018, p. 202) state:

Therefore, starting from the context of an initial teacher training program that has as its structural axis the insertion of undergraduates in school during their training, it is coherent to aim for interpersonal relationships between Supervising Teachers, scholarship holders and other school agents to occur in order to promote collegiality among them. In this way, the school becomes a space for sharing practices and meaning of experiences, in which collective work is present and everyone learns and teaches.

By considering the knowledge of experience as a source of professional learning, Pibid also contributes, according to 59 of the articles analyzed, to a more critical and reflective training and to the preparation of young teachers for the challenges of basic education, contributing to the development of their identity and professional autonomy. In this regard, in a study that analyzes the impacts of Pibid on the training of History teachers from (auto)biographical narratives, Cordeiro, Rocha e Silva (2021, p. 8) pointed out:

We can observe the importance of PIBID in the initial training of scholarship holder I, from the perception that she had the possibility of acquiring knowledge of her profession, the motivation to be a teacher, the dilemmas she faces in the profession, especially in the face of the life situations of public-school students. She recognizes that the Program made it possible to build a more confident teaching identity, as she was able to articulate theory and practice, since the beginning of her graduation.

We agree with Deimling and Reali (2020), when they state that, when inserted in the school space, students have the possibility, based on the academic knowledge acquired during their initial training, to start an investigation process on the observed problems of teaching practice, which allows them, in addition to the analysis of professional reality, to propose actions and practices that can contribute to address the identified challenges.

According to Zeichner (2010), in the process of initiation to teaching or, as the author calls it, “pre-service insertion”, we seek to provide undergraduate students with greater contact with school practice through the guidance and monitoring of experienced teachers. For the author, in addition to contact with professional practice, the “hybrid spaces” of training contribute to students performing a critical analysis of practices that occurred in the school context based on the training received.

Because the phase of initiation to teaching is a particularly sensitive moment in the teacher's professional development, Nóvoa (2017) also argues that this process should be organized as an integral part of the initial training program for future teachers, an objective that Pibid seeks to achieve. According to the author, in these years in which there is a transition from student to teacher, it is essential to consolidate the bases of a training that has as reference the analysis of practice and integration into the professional teaching culture.

Some of the articles analyzed emphasize that Pibid has contributed to the enrichment, resignification and expansion of teacher training by enabling undergraduate students to have direct and continuous contact, from the beginning of academic training, with the future professional environment, with a view to its critical analysis and the development of concrete actions that can engage critically with this professional context. This new perspective of training has also favored the professional choice of students for teaching.

Regarding the development of didactic-pedagogical strategies, 45 articles point to the realization, by scholarship students and under the supervision of teachers, of interdisciplinary projects and socio-environmental and political awareness, as well as the development of experimental activities, support for basic education students, the holding of thematic workshops, games, contests, theatrical activities, and mini-courses and participation in the organization of scientific exhibitions in schools. As an example, we can highlight the analysis of Santos Neto et al. (2024, p. 24), who, when investigating the impacts of Pibid on the training of science teachers based on the experiences of the scholarship holders, state:

Immersion in the school reality, through events such as Environment Week and Inclusion and Diversity Week, allowed a broader understanding of environmental, social and health issues present in the educational context. The different pedagogical approaches adopted during these events promoted meaningful discussions and awareness of topics relevant to students.

Such actions, according to this and the other articles that deal with this aspect, have expanded the training of students and contributed to the articulation between academic knowledge and knowledge of experience, in addition to favoring, as pointed out by 29 of the articles analyzed, the collaborative work between those involved in the project (undergraduate students, coordinators and supervisors) and those directly affected by it (students of basic education and the school community, including members of the school management), placing Pibid as a program that contributes not only to the pre-service teacher training, but also of supervising teachers.

Some of the works analyzed (14 articles) also address the relevance of Pibid as a program that is part of a broader policy of training and valuing the teaching profession, contributing to the permanence of students in undergraduate courses and to their insertion in the teaching profession. However, these same articles place these aspects as challenges to be faced by the government, since a program, by itself, cannot guarantee these objectives.

These and other limitations and challenges of the Program are also discussed in 34 of the articles analyzed, as can be seen in Table 2.

Regarding the challenges in the university-school relationship, eight articles highlight the need for greater institutional support and resources so that students can carry out the planned activities, since many of the actions developed require resources that go beyond those made available to the program. In addition, according to these articles, the absence of well-established relationships between higher education and basic education, in some cases, ends up making it difficult to consolidate integrated training practices. The works also identify the lack of adaptation and communication between the subjects involved in some subprojects, as well as the lack of adaptation of some basic education professionals to the PIBID and its objectives, which can generate demotivation on the part of some students.

Nogueira and Fernandez (2019, p. 19) also point out in their work these limitations of the program, especially with regard to the relationship between supervisors and scholarship students:

Regarding limitations, the following aspects are listed: conflicts with supervisors and with the coordination/direction of schools, adaptation to the Program/subproject at the beginning of the work, misinformation of institutional leaders about objectives and the role of PIBID in the teacher training process of pre-service students.

Furthermore, from contact with schools, scholarship students end up facing the reality experienced by education professionals, as can be seen in the article by Deimling and Reali (2017, p. 10):

Thus, we can affirm that, in the analyzed context, at the same time that it presents itself as a positive influence on the professional choice of scholarship holders, PIBID has not served as an incentive for their retention in basic education teaching, as the program aims. Another example that illustrates the preference of these students for higher education is related to the fact that many of the interviewees, especially from two of the SUBPROJECTS analyzed, relate PIBID with an opportunity to enrich the curriculum and, consequently, to enter graduate school and follow the academic career. A more alarming aspect can also be observed in the reports presented by other students who show precisely the discouragement they feel toward the teaching profession due to low wages, the devaluation of their careers and the adverse working conditions they observe in the schools in which they are inserted due to their participation in the Program.

For this and nine other articles analyzed (as shown in Table 2), the overload of teaching work - often in several schools -, the high workload, the short planning time, the low salaries, the social and financial devaluation of the career, the precarious working conditions, the low investment in school education and the conceptions of education that attribute to the teacher only the function of execution and operationalization of pre-planned tasks negatively influence the construction of the professional identity of some Pibid scholarship students, causing many of them to choose not to continue in the teaching career. Thus, one of the objectives of the Program, that of valuing the teaching of basic education, ends up not being fully achieved. On the other hand, Oliveira's work (2017, p. 15), which seeks to analyze the experiences of scholarship holders during their participation in Pibid, highlighting the knowledge that the Program provides, argues:

Remaining skeptical about the professional reality and the political and pedagogical teaching work in the social environment is a common narrative of the members after going through the PIBID EXPERIENCE. Even in the face of the challenges observed and even faced in the career, in the reports the critical awareness of the teaching reality and the positioning before the profession emerge. In their narratives, once strengthened, they usually position themselves and give contours to their professional teaching identity as they sign up for the certainty of becoming teachers. Perhaps guided by other motivations, a markedly situated characteristic is the participants' engagement in teaching. Even when faced with school problems, they face the difficulties of the profession with conviction and optimism.

Another aspect discussed by the articles analyzed concerns the training of supervising teachers of basic education to act as co-trainers of scholarship students. As four of the articles analyzed point out, the lack of training of these teachers to work with Pibid ends up reflecting on the disarticulation and lack of cooperation between universities and schools for the training of students, also leading to the demotivation of those involved in the process. For these articles, some supervising teachers do not recognize Pibid as a training space, devaluing the Program and the performance of the scholarship holders. This aspect can be evidenced in the article by Deimling and Reali (2020, p. 8-9):

However, even though the Program is recognized as a field of training possibilities by the interviewed supervisors, and even considering the fact that some of them are acting in a positive way in the training of undergraduate students and developing collaborative work with the university, most of the study participants - among coordinators and scholarship students - stated that there are supervisors who work or have worked in the Program who do not understand the objectives of PIBID; as a consequence, they are not involved with the Project and do not take it as a space and opportunity for training and analysis on practice.

In addition, for these analyzed works, the lack of cooperation, in some specific cases, ends up harming the development of the activities, either by the non-acceptance of some supervisors - who choose not to share their experiences and knowledge with the students - or by the unfriendly relationship between them and the scholarship holders under supervision. To overcome this limitation, we agree with Paniago, Sarmento and Rocha (2018, p. 26), who emphasize that:

In addition to the absence of teaching practices in the classroom, the lack of observation of the work of supervisors, problematization and search for new ways of working, the absence of collaborative practices and pedagogical training of trainers are elements to be rethought in the PIBID training PROCESS.

With regard to the limitations of Pibid within the scope of the national teacher training policy, 27 of the articles analyzed point to the cuts in funds and expenses and the successive changes that Pibid has undergone in recent years in its regulations and notices, which reflects the political discontinuity present in our country. These articles emphasize that some education networks and the government have treated Pibid as a one-off program, and not as a state policy, which can weaken its continuity and effectiveness. In order for the objectives of Pibid to be better achieved, the authors emphasize the need for public policies that promote greater accountability of schools in the initial training of teachers, as well as their consolidation as a public policy for teacher training, ensuring adequate and necessary working and career conditions for the professionals involved. This defense can be observed in the article by Deimling and Reali (2020, p. 16):

Likewise, it is necessary that education networks and, more specifically, the government adopt PIBID not only as another one-off government program, but as a comprehensive state policy aimed at teacher training, guaranteeing the necessary working and career conditions that allow these professionals to allocate part of their professional activity to this particularly important task in the practical training of future teachers.

Certainly, the quality of education and the appreciation of the teaching profession do not depend only on the teacher's training. Other elements have equally important weight, such as the social and financial valuation of the profession, objective working conditions in schools, school infrastructure, forms of work organization and public education and financing policies. However, these factors should be part of a broad and global educational policy, and should not be disregarded in the design of a national teacher training policy, which Pibid integrates.

Furthermore, these articles pose as a challenge the inclusion of Pibid as a permanent program within the scope of teacher training courses, guaranteeing this experience, with scholarship, to all undergraduates and their supervisors, and not only to those few who can access it through the selection process - also generating inequalities in initial training. Still on this aspect, the articles analyzed point to the need for a better definition and clarity of the role and attributions of undergraduates, education professionals and schools in this training process and to the need for Pibid to be accompanied by actions that value not only training, but also work and the teaching career. After all, without improving the working and career conditions of teachers, it will not be possible for a training program to guarantee the appreciation of the teaching profession. On the other hand, with the strengthening of this Program - combined with other actions of the State for the effective valorization of teaching - it will be possible to contribute, in the medium and long term, to the choice of students for the degree and teaching in basic education.

4 Final Considerations

This work highlights the importance of PIBID in initial teacher education in Brazil, analyzing its contributions, challenges and limitations based on a systematic review. The results obtained demonstrate the impacts of this Program on the training of undergraduate students, especially with regard to their approach to teaching practice and the construction of their professional identity, favoring the articulation between academic knowledge and teaching experience in the school space and collaborative work between universities and schools.

However, although the Program plays an important role in the training of undergraduate students, it has faced some problems that compromise some of the results it wants to achieve, especially with regard to the appreciation of teaching and the responsibilities and attributions of each of those involved in the process. They highlight the need for PIBID to be consolidated as a stable, long-term public policy, as a strategic, stable, and continuous public policy, so that it can ensure that more students have access to the scholarship and training experiences that the Program provides, with a view to strengthening not only initial teacher training, but also basic education in Brazil.

By verifying what is known and understanding the state reached so far on this subject, it is expected to offer to those who may be interested in it a perception of the evolution of studies in the area, configuring itself as a basis for the development of future actions and research on the impacts of Pibid on the pre-service teacher training. We understand that, in a political moment in which education and many of the training programs and actions that are part of it have again been resumed and valued, studies that contribute to the analysis of their possibilities, limitations and challenges in order to strengthen them are imperative.