The presence of students from immigrant families in Spanish schools calls for an appropriate response by the educational system, so that it can assume (Essomba, 2006, 8) a pro-active role in solving the dense puzzle of variables that allow us a co-existence based on equity and equal rights for all. The arrival of these boys and girls, far from being seen as a problem, should be seen (García Llamas, 2003, 107) as a good opportunity to educate students in democratic values such as tolerance, dialogue, solidarity, conflict resolution and the feeling of belonging to the group. Intercultural Education (IE) in this context becomes a more appropriate pedagogic focus, constituting as well the indispensible orientation for survival and updating of educational institutions.
    In practice, however, the pedagogic treatment given to cultural diversity is resolved with the establishment of special compensatory measures aimed at certain target groups. And it is that the immigration phenomenon has shown evidence (Santos Rego and Lorenzo Moledo, 2003, 68) of the scarce qualification of education professionals in this respect. The teacher is not receiving in his or her initial training specific preparation to develop truly intercultural curricula, nor a sufficient orientation in this line within the various modalities of on-going training (Marcelo, 1992; Imbernón, 1994). On the other hand, the technical teacher training model, currently hegemonic, in which the teacher acts as a mere consumer of the formulations of others (Gimeno Sacristán, 1983, 51), having also been shown to be incapable of producing the necessary changes in values and attitudes in teachers, carries as a consequence inadequate conceptualization of IE.
    For correct development of IE it is vital that the teacher achieve the so-called “intercultural competencies,” that is, the cognitive, affective and practical abilities necessary to efficiently function in an intercultural environment. Consequently, it is not enough to include mandatory assignments about IE, cultural diversity, etc. in study plans; it is also necessary (Nieto and Santos Rego, 1997) to totally transform teacher training programs to redraw them from an intercultural focus.
    Starting from the consideration of context as a socially constructed reality, in an effort to overcome a technical rationality model, there arises in the teacher training environment the model of “reflection of action” (Schön, 1998) or “reflective focus on practice” (Pérez Gómez, 1992). From this paradigm, the teacher is seen as an agent of change and a committed critic (Giroux, 1997), that is, as a reflexive professional who works on a team, following the research-action method (Elliot, 1997), capable of analysing the social control mechanisms of knowledge, the power of structures and social institutions and able to develop skills for social action (see López Reillo, 2006, 129).
This work analyses the results of a survey conducted among Galician teachers in order to allow us to examine the perceptions of teachers regarding their own training in IE, the perceived needs for preparation and about which there could be training modalities and content more appropriate for this field and analyse the influence of specific individual variables in their responses.

ELLIOT, J. (1997). La investigación-acción en educación. Madrid: Ediciones Morata. ESSOMBA, M. A. (2006). Liderar escuelas interculturales e inclusivas: Equipos directivos y profesorado ante la diversidad cultural y la inmigración. Barcelona: Graó. GARCÍA LLAMAS, J. L. (2003). “Educación intercultural. Análisis y propuestas”. Revista de Educación, 336, 89-109. GIMENO SACRISTÁN, J. (1983). “El profesor como investigador en el aula: Un paradigma de formación de profesores”. Educación y Sociedad, 2, 51-73. GIROUX, H. (1997). “Intelectuales públicos y la crisis de la enseñanza superior”. Revista Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 29, 77-87. IMBERNÓN MUÑOZ, F. (1994). La formación del profesorado. Barcelona: Paidós. LÓPEZ REILLO, P. (2006). Una oportunidad para aprender. La dimensión intercultural en la formación del profesorado. Cabildo Insular de Tenerife, Área de Desarrollo Económico. MARCELO, C. (1992). Desarrollo de la comprensión intercultural en los programas de formación inicial del profesorado. En X Congreso Nacional de Pedagogía (Ed.). Educación Intercultural en la perspectiva de la Europa Unida (Tomo II, 501-535). Salamanca: Imprenta Provincial. NIETO, S. & SANTOS REGO, M. A. (1997). “Formación multi/intercultural del profesorado: perspectivas en los Estados Unidos y España”. Teoría de la Educación. Revista Interuniversitaria, 9, 55-74. PÉREZ GÓMEZ, A. I. (1992). La función y formación del profesor/a en la enseñanza para la comprensión. Diferentes perspectivas. En J. Gimeno & A. Pérez Gómez (Eds.) Comprender y transformar la enseñanza (398-429). Madrid: Morata. SANTOS REGO, M. A. & LORENZO MOLEDO, M. (2003). Inmigración e acción educativa en Galicia. Vigo: Edicións Xerais de Galicia. SCHÖN, D. A. (1998). El profesional reflexivo: cómo piensan los profesionales cuando actúan. Barcelona: Paidós.