El desarrollo de la relación teoría y práctica en el grado de maestro en educación primaria.

Abstract

The relationship between theory and practice has major implications in teacher training, improving teaching practices and professional development. This article explores how future teachers and their trainers perceive the dichotomy between theory and practice while undertaking a Primary Education Degree programme. Ore specifically, the following questions were posed with a view to gaining some insight into how to bridge the gap between theory and practice in teacher training: - How is the theory-practice relationship approached in the teacher training setting? - How does theory-practice coordination influence the development of practical knowledge in future teachers? - Which aspects of teacher training foster greater theory-practice coordination and which hinder it? A qualitative methodology was used based on the study of multiple cases, and data collection techniques included in-depth interviews, discussion groups and stories. Various groups involved in the degree course (students, teachers and school tutors) participated in the study. The results allow to identify as main problems an overly fragmented and theoretical curriculum, coexistence of confronted epistemological conceptions, lack of connection between curriculum and real practice, among other issues. Finally, we may conclude that although progress has been made compared with previous curricular programmes, the theory versus practice relationship has yet to be fully, meaningfully and jointly developed in the initial teacher training setting.