The theory-practice problem in teacher education models: a psychological perspective

Abstract

This article suggests that some discrepancies between the different models of teacher education are related with different ways of defining the theory-practice problem. The article proposes three ways of defining the problem: as a problem of transference between contexts; as a problem of relation between the explicit and the implicit; as a problem of relation between the propositional and the situational. These different views of the problem are then linked to four models of teacher education: school-based (SBTE), research-based (RBTE), realistic (RTE), and core practices (CPTE). It is proposed that SBTE and RBTE define the problem in terms of transfer between contexts, the RTE defines it from the explicit-implicit axis, and the CPTE defines it from the propositional-situational axis. It is argued that none of the models examined resolves the issue, but that they all contain some elements that may represent advances.