The non-mandatory paid internship in the pedagogy course: formative contributions and present contradictions

Abstract

This article aims to understand the experiences of non-mandatory paid internships as training spaces for future pedagogues, through the reflections provided by students enrolled in a Pedagogy course, seeking to highlight their contributions and contradictions. The qualitative research seeks to present considerations from the literature on the formative aspects and ponderings from students of a public state university in northern Paraná about the experiences during the non-mandatory paid internship, based on a semi-structured questionnaire. The results, organized into the categories (a) reasons and motivations for experiencing the non-mandatory internship; (b) advantages and positive points generated by the experience; and (c) challenges and negative points generated by the experience, show that, for interns, the contributions of this internship modality include the opportunity for self-recognition in professional practice, skill improvement, longer immersion in the school environment, the possibility of future job market entry, and temporary financial remuneration, which helps them stay at the university. As contradictions, students highlight the diversion of duties, the accumulation of internship and university demands, and low remuneration as pervasive aspects of these experiences. Furthermore, the research points to the necessary definition, through relevant legislation, of the expected actions of interns in the field, with a view to preserving the truly educational character of these experiences, as well as the impact of the non-mandatory paid internship – and the multiple roles that students assume – on the devaluation and suppression of spaces for professionals already qualified to teach.