Trilhando pelo estágio de docência: contribuições para a formação de professores no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da UEFS

Abstract

The teaching internship is configured as a fundamental curricular component in the training of higher education teachers, especially in stricto sensu postgraduate programs. This research aims, as its general objective, to understand the implications of curricular organization and the teaching internship on master's students' learning about teaching in the Graduate Program in Education (PPGE) at the State University of Feira de Santana (UEFS). The research question is: What are the implications of the PPGE's curricular organization and the teaching internship on the master's students' learning about teaching? The study adopted an exploratory qualitative approach, grounded in the complexity paradigm. The data production combined document analysis of the curricula of the Stricto Sensu Programs at UEFS and semi-structured interviews with metaphor induction, conducted with nine master's students who completed the teaching internship in the 2024.2 and 2025.1 periods. From a methodological point of view, the research was guided by Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2008). Thus, we used open, axial, and selective coding, in addition to memos and diagrams. The results show that teacher training occupies a marginal place in the curricula, with a limited offer of specific courses and insufficient workload, especially in the PPGE. The findings indicate that the teaching internship is perceived ambiguously: initially as a space of idealized expectations, and later as a moment of confronting reality, marked by inexperience, fears, and formative shocks. Conceptions of teaching move between traditional models (transmission) and dialogical perspectives (sharing, shared journey). The emerging substantive theory defines the central phenomenon: The teaching internship as a formative rite of passage: between idealized expectations, clashes with reality, and the redefinition of university teaching. We conclude that, although powerful, the effectiveness of the internship depends on greater theory-practice integration in the curriculum, the expansion of specific training spaces, and a pedagogical intentionality that goes beyond bureaucratic formality. Finally, the research suggests the need for graduate Programs in Education to take on, in a balanced way, the dual mission of training researchers and qualified teachers for higher education.