Principal investigator: Eduarda Miller de Figueiredo
Article title: Institutional Scholarship Program for Teaching Initiation (PIBID): Performance of Scholarship Recipients Versus Non-Recipients
Article authors: Adriana Castro Araujo, Wagner Bandeira Andriola and Afrânio de Araújo Coelho
Location of the intervention: federal University of Ceara
Sample size: 2.193
Main theme: Education
Type of Intervention: Evaluating the efficiency of PIBID
Primary variable of interest: Academic Performance Index (IRA)
Evaluation method: Other – descriptive field research
Policy Problem
According to Andriola (2012), learning is a "qualitative and stable behavioral change that occurs in the mental processes of memorization, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and judgment, among others." This process is included in the student's education.
The Institutional Scholarship Program for Initiation to Teaching (PIBID) is a public policy for teacher training, whose main objective is to attract better professionals to work in public schools, contributing to an improvement in public basic education in the country. Thus, the program was established through article 62, paragraph 5 of the Law of Guidelines and Bases of National Education (LDB), with the objective of encouraging teaching, stimulating the teaching career in public basic education. Despite having demonstrated success in its objectives, the problems that exist in basic education in Brazil still hinder the recruitment of the most qualified teachers (ARANTES, 2013).
Implementation and Evaluation Context
The intention of evaluating the program is to obtain diagnoses that will enable the planning of actions for its improvement, in addition to assisting in the decision-making of managers and public policy makers (ANDRIOLA, 1999). Since it is in the evaluation phase that it is possible to ascertain whether the primary objectives have been achieved, improve the actions, and decide whether the program will continue or a new one will be created (FREY, 2000).
This type of evaluation is extremely important for higher education, as the program is included within a sphere of public policies for education. Therefore, it becomes necessary to observe its effects from the point of view of "educational monitoring and quality processes" (SOUSA et al., 2016). Thus, the evaluation of PIBID will take place at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), where the program includes the undergraduate degrees specified in the CAPES call for proposals.[1] as priorities. These include the subjects of Biological Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Philosophy. In addition, the subject of Portuguese Language and Literature would contribute to the other areas by improving comprehension, reading, and writing.
Policy Details
The PIBID program served around 3 scholarship recipients when it began in 2007. In 2011, this number reached almost 30, and currently, it has more than 90 scholarship recipients. Specific evaluations of the program demonstrate effects in relation to students' motivation to become teachers and in relation to the improvement of the training of professionals who supervise the students participating in PIBID (ANDRÉ, 2012). Furthermore, Silveira (2013) observed that university students understood that the practice of teaching goes beyond simply mastering the content taught in the classroom.
The PIBID evaluation will take place at the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), where the program covers the undergraduate degrees specified in the CAPES call for proposals.[1] as priorities. These include the subjects of Biological Sciences, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Philosophy. In addition, the subject of Portuguese Language and Literature would contribute to the other areas by improving comprehension, reading, and writing.
Assessment Method
The objective of this article is to evaluate and compare the academic performance of PIBID scholarship recipients and non-recipients, using the Academic Performance Index (IRA) that UFC calculates for each course taken through the scholarship recipient's academic performance evaluations. In addition, the course scores on the National Student Performance Examination (ENADE) and the course schedule are also taken into account.
To this end, a descriptive field study was conducted with 2.193 graduates of undergraduate programs at the Federal University of Ceará from the periods of 2009/2 to 2015/1. From this sample, the group of former PIBID scholarship recipients, representing a total of 209 individuals (12,3% of the sample), was compared with the 1.924 non-scholarship recipients (87,7% of the sample).
Results
PIBID scholarship recipients showed homogeneity in academic performance compared to non-recipients, especially in courses with higher ENADE scores. When the ENADE score was not considered, the average Academic Performance Index (IRA) values of the program's scholarship recipients were higher, as shown in the graph below:
according to the ENADE concept of the course.
With this difference in IRA (Assessment of General Interest), the authors were able to observe that PIBID scholarship recipients developed their cognitive abilities and assimilation of curricular content better, compared to non-scholarship recipients.
Regarding course schedules, the study observed that the GPA was consistently lower in daytime courses compared to mixed or evening courses. Furthermore, the results continue to confirm that, regardless of the course schedule, PIBID scholarship recipients achieve qualitatively superior academic performance compared to non-recipients.
The results found in this article corroborate studies such as that of Darroz and Wannmacher (2015), which also pointed to the benefits of PIBID in the training of scholarship students. Therefore, PIBID has been a program that provides opportunities and has enriched learning.
Lessons in Public Policy
The positive results demonstrated in the study show the importance of the Institutional Scholarship Program for Initiation to Teaching in the training of university students. In addition to achieving better academic performance, with substantial differences in the quality of learning among scholarship recipients, the program encouraged the practice of teaching.
As the authors cite in the article, Albert Einstein once said, “I don't teach my students. I create the conditions for them to learn."That would be the essence of PIBID, which has been fulfilled. After all, the program has added value to the students' training, enriching them with experiences so that, in the future, they become professionals in the art of teaching."
[1] CAPES – Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel.
[1] CAPES – Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel.
