In this paper we analyze the social representation of teacher training constructed by a group of 513 undergraduates in Education from Pará State, in Brazilian Northern region, and a group of 369 teachers from Minas Gerais State, in Brazilian Southeastern region. Our aim is to characterize the educational process by the organizing its elements, comparing the results obtained for each group based on the responses to a questionnaire. The questionnaires were submitted to a principal component analysis with varimax rotation. In both studies the characterization of teacher education occurs in terms of effort/individual work necessary for a teacher, and in terms of skills to be developed in academic and teaching practice. An inversion of priorities in both groups reveals an evolution of representations from an academic view to an educating view as a social practice.
Teacher education; social representation; teachers