Seeking a balance between ideal teaching and ‘what works’ in a physical education teacher education service learning programme

Service learning (SL) is a widespread pedagogical approach in teacher education. In SL programmes, practice and theory are expected to be connected. However, as teacher educators, we acknowledge that they are not always completely aligned. To better understand this tension, in this collaborative self-study, four teacher educators examined the complexity of balancing ideal teaching and ‘what works’ in an SL programme carried out in the field of physical education teacher education in eastern Spain. The analysis identifies connections and disconnections between theoretical perfection – using the SL benchmark items ( Chiva-Bartoll and Fernández-Río, 2022 ) – and real practice. The findings suggest that straightforward theoretical principles cannot do justice to the complexities of SL and teacher educators must adapt them to their specific contexts. Such insights are important for helping teacher educators to navigate between theory and practice. In addition, we provide some concrete practical implications for each SL benchmark item to improve teaching practice.