This paper is meant to analyze a teacher educator's experience when giving a continuing education course for chemistry teachers, held at a public university in São Paulo, in 2004. The information here has resulted from the observation of the teacher educator's performance and her reflections on their own ideas, conflicts, anguish and impressions concerning her actions throughout the course. The contrasts between the educator's practice and her reflections are the focus of this study. Such contrasts are regarded as a result of the presence of unconscious elements that either favor or hinder practice, and show that reflection and action not always lead to the same direction. We believe individuals should be encouraged to take a more questioning and more reflective attitude, enabling better results in teachers' education as well as more effective performance. Data analysis was based on concepts belonging to Freud's and Lacan's psychoanalytic theories.
Teacher's continued education; Teacher educator's role; Education and psychoanalysis; Teachers' reflection