The research reported in this paper is an attempt to shed light on the academic/practitioner relationship, its context and its occasions in a course of an in-service training programme in Greece. It seeks to unveil the dynamics of learning in the course of the sessions and endeavors to capture the ways in which different forms of knowledge interact. In investigating these issues, the study gave voice to the experiences and perceptions of twenty-two teachers and twelve tutors, who were the key units of analysis, as they embarked on a course of a European Union funded in-service training programme in Greece. Since it focuses on how individuals understand, experience and interpret a phenomenon and seeks for a deeper interpretation and conceptualization of that phenomenon (van Manen, 1984), a grounded theory approach to the collection and analysis of data was adopted. This means that the study aimed at developing theory and conclusions that are discovered and verified provisionally through systematic data collection and rigorous analysis pertaining to the phenomenon under study. Therefore the data collection, theory and analysis stand in 'reciprocal relationship to one another' (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 23). Analysis is described around three antithetical pairs: theory versus practice, propositional versus procedural and knowledge producers versus knowledge translators. These are seen as constituting a continuum between two poles aimed at helping data interpretation. The theory/practice relation emerged several times throughout the study taking the form, first, of theoretical knowledge provided by academics as opposed to practical knowledge favoured by teachers and; second, of theory seen in terms of rules and premises which were presented in abstract and contrasted with practice. It was also presented in the disjuncture between the espoused theories of the academics and their theories-in-use (Argyris and Schön, 1974). The second theme, relates to the propositional knowledge that most of the academics exhibited compared to the procedural knowledge traditionally held by schoolteachers. The majority of the former, mainly those who had not been in schools, adopted a hierarchical model in the transmission of knowledge and presented themselves as being knowledge generators rather than partners in understanding practice. The above echoes the traditional theory-into-practice model that has historically relied on university-based researchers to generate knowledge for teachers viewed primarily as "technicians who must somehow absorb the results of this research and introduce it" into schools (Lieberman, 1992, p. 11). However, as Bickel and Hattrup (1995, p. 47) identify, "No where is this more important than the need to revisit the traditional approach to knowledge production that promotes researchers as knowledge generators and teachers as translators". Hence, if this is to take place, then emphasis must be placed on the facilitation of more Mode 2 forms of knowledge as described by Gibbons et al., (1994). Characteristic of such knowledge is that researchers and users lose their hierarchical identity in teams. They become partners in knowledge creation, validation, adoption, dissemination and diffusion.The research reported is, nevertheless, fundamentally optimistic in that it does indicate, however imperfectly, that rather than focusing on the gap, the discussion should be about space. Both academics and practitioners need to inhabit the space and work out mutually its boundaries, its structures and its purpose. Essentially, academics must leave the hill-tops and meet the teachers coming up upward. To build on Geer's (Geer, as quoted in Hoyle, 1994) metaphor teachers should not be seen any more as spreading other people's butter. Both academics and teachers should 'make butter and spread it mutually'. ReferencesArgyris, C. and Schön, D. A. (1974) Theory in Practice: Increasing Professional Effectiveness, San Francisco, Jossey- Bass.Bickel, W. E. and Hattrup, R. A. (1995) 'Teachers and researchers in collaboration: reflections on the process', American Educational Research Journal, 32 (1), pp. 35- 62.Hoyle, E. (1994) 'Teaching: social status', International Encyclopaedia of Education, London, Pergamon.Gibbons, M., Limoges, C., Nowotny, H., Schwartzman, S., Scott, P. and Trow, M. (1994) The New Production of Knowledge, London, Sage.Lieberman, A. (1992) 'The meaning of scholarly activity and the building of community', Educational Researcher, 21 (6), 5-12.Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1990) Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory, Procedures and Techniques, London, Sage.Van Manen, M. (1984) 'Practising phenomenological writing', Phenomenology and Pedagogy, 2 (1), pp. 36-73