Texts and Contexts: the Relationship between Theory and Practice in STP according to future Educators and Teachers

Abstract

The relationship between theory and practice in the context of educator and/or teacher training has been a recurrent theme in the field of Educational Sciences. Nonetheless, it continues to be of great importance in the current framework of student-trainee training and is one of the foundations of educational self-image. This research, reliant on a mixed approach and based on the consultation of 115 students who attend professional master's degrees in continental Portugal, has the following objectives: to identify the theoretical frameworks that are mobilized in the implementation of STP, to analyze the nature of the arguments that justify their use, as well as the importance of the relationship set forth by these arguments between theory and practice. The results point towards a predominance of theoretical references in the field of General Education (in particular, by Portuguese and classical authors), as well as an increased importance of the relationship between theory and practice, although this position is not assumed by all participants.