Research, theory and practice in initial teacher education: new contexts, new challenges

In this chapter, I look at the post-Bologna framework by highlighting new contexts and new challenges with regard to the tensions in teacher education curriculum and structure or organisation. Next I will focus on the research dimension in ITE which remains a controversial issue in existing literature. Inquiry-based teacher education has been advocated in more recent literature, but it is far from representing a common approach and it faces various challenges. This chapter also includes a brief overview of the teacher education model at the University of Minho mainly in regard to its approach to practicum in the context of post-Bologna.Financial Support by CIEC (Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho; FCT R&D unit 317, Portugal) by the Strategic Project UID/CED/00317/2013, with financial support of National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the COMPETE 2020 - Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-00756