Current discussions on educational quality have called attention to the central role of teachers in improving their students’ development and learning. Research on the design of teacher education programs argue that most programs are too theoretical –abstract and general, with a focus on beliefs and knowledge- instead of based in the work of teaching and its practice[1]. In this context, “practice-based curriculums” have been conceptualized in order to shift the focus of teacher education more toward teaching practices[2]. The present work describes the process of curriculum redesign in a university-based teacher education program in Chile. The goal of the redesign is to ensure that students have opportunities to gradually approximate specific teaching practices as they progress through the program. The paper focuses on how the transition from university coursework (including disciplinary and methods courses) to teaching practice is conceptualized and practically approached in the process of the redesign. The theoretical perspectives that support the redesign process are based on coherence[3] and pedagogies of practice[4] to learn core practices5. Based on an analysis of questionnaire data about learning opportunities as perceived by students, it was observed that students perceived few opportunities to enact practice before their clinical field experiences, and that their first practical experiences tends to be with a whole group class. The discussion section focuses on these results as a base line for making evidenced-based decisions, and on the potential of the questionnaire –which uses some items developed by the CATE study6 – to monitor the transition from pedagogies of knowledge and beliefs to practice-based ones. Challenges in designing a practice-based curriculum for teacher education are then considered.

[1]Ball, D. & Forzani, F. (2009). The work of teaching and the challenge for teacher education. Journal of Teacher Education, 60(5), 497-511. Grossman, P., Compton, C., Igra, D., Ronfeldt, M., Shahan, E., & Williamson, P. (2009). Teaching Practice: A Cross-Professional Perspective. Teachers College Record, 111(9), 2055-2100. [2]Forzani, F. (2014). Understanding “Core Practices” and “Practice-Based” teacher education: Learning from the past. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(4), 357-368. [3]Hammerness, K. & Klette, K. (in press). Indicators of Quality in Teacher Education: Looking at Features of Teacher Education from an International Perspective. To appear in Gerald LeTendre & Alexander Wiseman (Eds.), Promoting and Sustaining a Quality Teaching Workforce (Emerald Press). [4]Grossman, P., Hammerness, K. & McDonald, M. (2009). Redefining teaching, re-imagining teacher education. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 15(2), 273-289. 5McDonald, M., Kazemi, E., Schneider, S. (2013). Core practices and pedagogies of teacher education: A call for a common language and collective activity. Journal of Teacher Education, 64(5), 1–9. 6Hammerness, K., Bergem, O. K., & Klette, K. (2014). Coherence and Assignments in Teacher Education: Teacher Education Survey. Oslo, Norway: University of Oslo Department of Teacher Education and School Research.