Building the profession within Physical Education teacher education: processes, challenges, and dynamics between school and university

Abstract

Teacher education, as an historical social practice, has undergone multiple transformations, namely the adaptation to the Bologna process. In Portugal, the most visible change in teacher education programs was the fragmentation of five-year integrated program into two disconnected cycles, with the compacting of pedagogical, didactic, and early field experiences. Looking to go beyond a critical reflection, we intended to present arguments about how teacher education programs can be drawn for the challenges that Physical Education will be called upon to answer. The arguments are based on the knowledge and experience from research projects in the scope of the school placement in Physical Education, which aimed to embed initial teacher education in a collaborative dynamic between the university and the school, and contribute to the construction of the professional identities of learners and mentors.