Teacher Training: (Dis)encounter between Theory and Practice

The preparation of teachers is a key process in the development of effective teachers, however, initial training always seems insufficient and outdated to produce the expected teaching profile and respond to the dynamic character of today's society. This article reports part of the research "teachers in the process of initial training" (2020-2021), developed in the context of a Faculty of Education Sciences, Chile. Based on a qualitative methodology and a case study research strategy, we worked with 120 pedagogy students in the process of training, who offered their representations regarding the theory-practice relationship in the context of the Chilean educational system. In a complementary way, 5 focus groups were administered with the intention of enriching ideas and perspectives. The criteria to choose them were to be studying a pedagogy program, with experience of practices in schools and that they accepted to participate voluntarily, after signing consent. The results show that the theory-practice relationship can be understood in various ways: dependence, disagreement and integration which influence the way teaching is understood and its exercise. In terms of projections, the need arises to think of a training that in a bidirectional way manages to theorize the practice and experience the theory.