This study critically analyzes the attributions of the pedagogical advisor in the literacy cycle in public schools of the municipality of Duque de Caxias - RJ. The research study seeks to answer the following questions: What is the nature of the role of the pedagogical advisor in the public schools of the Duque de Caxias Municipal Secretariat of Education (SME/DC)? What challenges are the pedagogical leaders pointing out in terms of their performance in the literacy cycle? In order to answer these questions, we analyze the attributions and perceptions of pedagogical advisors about their training pathways (ALARCÃO, 1996; NÓVOA, 2007; SHULMAN, 2014; TARDIF, 2000) and their forms of insertion in the dynamics of school work organization in public schools Brazil (ALMEIDA, SOUZA, PLACCO, 2015, 2016, PARO, 2000 and RANGEL, 2003). From the methodological point of view, based on a research qualitative approach, data production procedures are adopted: observation of meetings of the Coordination of Educational Supervision and Guidance, events with the pedagogical counselors proposed by SME/DC and semi-structured interviews with ten pedagogical leaders working in the literacy cycle (BOGDAN and BIKLEN, 1994; LUDKE and ANDRÉ, 1986). The categories that emerged from data indicate: characteristics of the practice of the pedagogical advisor with the literacy teachers; training paths and attributions of the pedagogical leader in literacy: interfaces; forms of interaction between the pedagogical advisors and the SME/DC team: singularities and implications of the democratic management for the practice of the pedagogical advisor. The results show that the interviewed supervisors, based on the bureaucratic-administrative tasks they perform, consider the volume of their assignments to be excessive in relation to the number of hours they have to perform the job; emphasize, curiously, as the focus of their work, the follow-up and direct pedagogical intervention to students who present learning difficulties; emphasize the participation in events of different modalities destined for literacy and demonstrate a preoccupation with the maintenance, in the scope of the school, of the spaces of formation; report the issue of distance between the SME/DC teams and the school, even with the use of technological resources that are not always effective and the evidence the participation as a challenge for the practice of a practice in the perspective of democratic management. As final considerations, results show the challenges for the Brazilian public school, literacy, the need to rethink the training models of the pedagogue who plays the role of pedagogical advisor and the search for strategies to consolidate democratic management in school.