How to bring out pre-service teachers' previous experiences and beliefs? Teaching practices from the realistic model

Various teaching practices are presented to bring out pre-service teachers' previous experiences and beliefs about the teaching and disciplinary knowledge required to be a teacher. These practices were introduced in subjects in social science education, mathematics education, teaching self-expression through movement and the practical training sessions of the bachelor's degrees in pre-school and primary school teaching of the University of Girona. The teaching practices were planned and organised based on the teaching staff's realistic training perspective. This view assumes that teacher training should integrate personal experiences, through reflection, with classroom practice and theoretical knowledge. The starting point is awareness of previous experiences and beliefs. These, if not adequately considered and dealt with, can be an obstacle to the acquisition of new knowledge. The tools and strategies used are role play, open-ended questions, introspective activities based on movement and image analogy. Analysis of the practices reveals how pre-service teachers are becoming aware of their previous experiences and beliefs, and how these can influence their professional identity. It is concluded that these aspects, which are usually deep-rooted, should be reconstructed through reflective cycles during initial teacher training.