PRIRTEPE: reframing the theory–practice relationship in education through reflexive professionalization

The relationship between educational theory and practice remains one of the most persistent challenges in the preparation of educators, pedagogists and teachers, because it concerns not only the organization of university curricula but also the epistemological conditions through which pedagogical knowledge becomes capable of orienting situated professional action. PRIRTEPE, italian acronym for “Progetto di Ricerca e Intervento sul Rapporto tra Teoria e Prassi in Educazione” (in english “Research Project About Reletionship Between Theory and Practice in Education”), investigates this relationship as a structural issue of higher education and professionalization, rather than as an individual deficiency of students or practitioners. The project starts from the assumption that theoretical knowledge cannot be reduced to abstract conceptualization, just as practice cannot be understood as the mechanical execution of predefined procedures. Educational work takes place in complex, unstable and value-laden contexts, where professional decisions require interpretation, responsibility, contextual sensitivity and the capacity to transform experience into communicable knowledge. The main objective of the study is to analyse how students enrolled in degree programmes related to educational professions perceive the balance between theoretical training and practical preparation, how they assess their own ability to transfer pedagogical concepts into operational choices, and which formative gaps emerge when they encounter internships, field experiences or early professional tasks. A further objective is to clarify how tacit routines, common-sense solutions and informal strategies can be made visible, discussed and critically reworked within academic and professional learning environments. Methodologically, PRIRTEPE is organized around an integrated research design. An analytical phase reconstructs the theoretical debate on the theory–practice nexus, paying attention to the risks of both excessive abstraction and narrow empiricism. An empirical phase employs an anonymous semi-structured questionnaire composed of Likert-type items and open-ended questions, developed through expert review in order to ensure conceptual coherence, clarity and relevance. The instrument explores students’ perceptions of curricular emphasis, self-assessed theoretical and practical preparedness, perceived training needs, experiences of transfer and contextual adaptation, professional self-efficacy, and the criteria used to evaluate the reliability and usefulness of educational knowledge. The questionnaire was administered to more than six hundred students attending university programmes connected with educational, pedagogical and teaching professions. Preliminary results indicate a marked perceived asymmetry between the centrality assigned to theoretical study and the comparatively weaker role attributed to practical preparation within academic pathways. Students generally recognize the importance of theory for understanding educational phenomena, yet they often report uncertainty when asked to translate models, methods or principles into decisions adapted to concrete situations. The findings also suggest that the problem does not consist simply in the need to add more practical activities, but in the need to strengthen mediating processes that help students interpret experience, connect it with conceptual frameworks, and critically examine the assumptions guiding their action. From this perspective, professionalization requires spaces in which practical knowledge can be verbalized, compared, evaluated and transformed, avoiding both unreflective routine and prescriptive technical rationality. The study concludes that the theory–practice divide should be addressed through a pedagogy of reflexive mediation, capable of linking academic knowledge, field experience and professional judgement in a dynamic and reciprocal way. PRIRTEPE therefore contributes to educational research by providing empirical evidence on students’ formative perceptions and by outlining a framework for university programmes aimed at developing reflective, context-sensitive and epistemically responsible educational professionals.