ABSTRACT
Research and studies made during the past few years about basic education in Mexico have paid close attention to teaching as the primary determinant in the improvement of educational quality. Of course, there is nothing new about that; if one only recalls educational reforms made during the past thirty years, one will see that teachers have always been at the top of the list, and that attention to their preparation is one of the most important aspects of any educational reform. Given that situation, what has educational research contributed to our current understanding and development of teaching?
