Discussions concerning the relationship between theory and practice in teachers' preparation courses are a particular topic of a long lasting and wide subject, which may go as far back as the beginning of our philosophical tradition. In this article it is analyzed through the exam of two very influential models of pedagogical discourses: the first one which derives theories of education from the great philosophical systems and Jean Piaget's constructivist approach to education. The article analyses the attempts of transplanting theories from these two fields to educational practice, stressing the abstract character of its prescriptions and the problems which come up from the fact that they simply ignore the culture of everyday school work and its ethical and political basis.
theory and practice; theory of education; philosophy of education