{"id":74899,"date":"2023-12-07T06:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/jornal\/?p=74899"},"modified":"2023-12-07T07:35:47","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T10:35:47","slug":"projects-seek-ways-to-improve-graduate-teaching-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ufrgs.br\/jornal\/projects-seek-ways-to-improve-graduate-teaching-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Projects seek ways to improve graduate teaching training"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

University | Graduate Programs historically favor research, as shown by the data collected among Graduate Programs (PPGs) at UFRGS, but teacher training is considered relevant due to its social impact and the qualification of graduates to pursue a career in higher education<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*By St\u00e9fani Fontanive
*First published Mar 23, 2023
*Photo: Ana Terra Firmino\/JU \u2013 Studying for a Doctorate in the Graduate Program in Visual Arts (PPGAV), Leonardo Caobelli taught, throughout this semester, <\/em>
classes in the course Photographic Laboratory II, for the Undergraduate Program in Arts, as part of his activities in Teaching Internship<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, 2,196 students received a master\u2019s or a PhD degree from UFRGS. That same year, another 2,850 got admitted to one of the University’s 89 graduate programs. Teaching is the path many alumni choose, but the two, four, or six years spent in academia do not prepare future teachers for the teaching track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the years dedicated to research, only scholarship holders from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (Capes) have a teaching internship as an obligatory requirement. The report of these few graduate students, however, is often not positive. Trauma in the classroom, dropping out of research, and complaints about the [lack of] connection between teaching and research are topics which emerge from conversations with grad students. The University, in this scenario, is a favorable environment for debate, and initiatives already suggest possible remedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tripod model<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

The union between research and teaching was formalized in the University Reform of 1968. Law No. 5,540, of November 28 of that year, is responsible for setting \u201cnorms for the organization and operation of higher education and its articulation with secondary school, and other measures,\u201d as stated in the document. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn this reform, the university tripod model was adopted: research, teaching, and community outreach,\u201d explains Fl\u00e1via Maria Teixeira dos Santos, professor at the Faculty of Education, with expertise in teacher training. The researcher states that during the reform and reorganization of institutions, research had always been privileged to the detriment of the other two areas.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Law No. 5,540 was repealed by Law No. 9,192 of 1996, enacted by Fernando Henrique Cardoso (FHC), but the tripod university \u2013 and its focus on research \u2013 continued. Still in FHC\u2019s government, the teaching internship became mandatory for all federal scholarship holders through circular letter n.\u00b0 28\/99\/PR\/CAPES. In 2010, a new reform established that, from that year on, if the program has a master’s and a doctorate, only doctoral students with scholarships are required to carry out the teaching internship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Capes, the practice is \u201can integral part of the training of graduate students, aiming at preparing them for teaching and qualifying undergraduate teaching\u201d. In practice, the teaching internship consists of the commitment of the student to follow and teach an undergraduate course for a semester, preferably from his supervisor. If the professor does not teach undergraduate courses or the course is not related to the advisee’s research, the latter can do the internship with another professor at the same institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no institutional orientation aimed at teaching internships,\u201d points out Fl\u00e1via. The internship, which should be a time to prepare the student for teaching, ends up losing its meaning. \u201cWe know that, many times, professors use teaching interns to ‘cover’ classes that they cannot teach,\u201d says Julio Barcellos, Executive Vice-President for Research at UFRGS. Fl\u00e1via agrees and points out that it is a common practice. There are few programs that create opportunities for their students to get in touch with teaching methodologies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teaching internship at UFRGS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

At the University, each PPG organizes the functioning and the requirements of its teaching internship. To map the situation, the 89 existing graduate programs were contacted. Among these, 36 answered three questions: how is the teaching internship at the PPG?; how does the enrollment in the internship work?; and are there any theoretical classes in the program about teaching methodologies related to the teaching internship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Botany program, for example, all students are required to carry out the practice, while in Visual Arts only doctoral students with a Capes scholarship \u2013 as per federal guidelines. In Social Psychology, teaching internship is mandatory for master’s students who hold scholarships and for all doctoral students. The PPG in Food of Animal Origin, which offers a master’s program in the professional modality, does not require students to have a teaching internship.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click and check the mandatory teaching internship according to each PPG, according to the responses received:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Master\u2019s<\/span><\/span>Doctorate<\/span><\/span>Master\u2019s and Doctorate<\/span><\/span><\/div>
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