The school-university association: collaborating teachers’ perceptions of primary education degree programs in Chile

Abstract

Over the last ten years, international educational organizations have emphasized the importance of establishing partnerships between universities and schools during the practical training of future teachers, with an emphasis on improving the quality of learning during their initial training. Therefore, the objective of the study is to describe the school-university relationship during practical training in primary-education pedagogy from the perception of collaborating teachers in practice centers. To achieve this, a qualitative methodology was used, which included the analysis of semi-structured interviews with eleven collaborating teachers. For the analysis of the empirical material, some guidelines of Grounded Theory were followed. The main results indicated that the school-university relationship is characterized by the responsibilities assumed by the school and the university during the practicum, the conditions for a successful partnership, as well as aspects still pending in the organization of practical experiences. Finally, these findings are discussed in terms of the growing evolution of responsibilities that schools and collaborating teachers have assumed, coupled with the insufficient instances of dialogue between training teachers during practical experiences, pointing to gaps in reciprocity between the institutions.