Bidirectionality in the Teaching Practicum: A Systematic Review

The teaching practicum is a key point of connection between universities and schools. However, its evaluation has traditionally focused on the learning of the future teacher, paying less attention to the learning and transformation processes that this interaction can generate for collaborating teachers, universities, and schools. The purpose of this study was to analyze how the literature has conceptualized and evaluated bidirectionality in the teaching practicum within initial teacher education, identifying its conceptual evolution, the mechanisms through which it occurs, and the evidence used to recognize its contributions and impacts. A systematic review of 71 studies published between 1990 and 2026 was conducted. The analysis shows an evolution from models focused on supervision and knowledge transfer to perspectives based on functional reciprocity, mutual learning, knowledge co-construction, and institutional transformation. Based on these results, a six-level maturity taxonomy is proposed: presence, coordination, functional reciprocity, mutual learning, epistemic co-construction, and institutional transformation. The review also identifies mechanisms that foster bidirectionality, including structured professional dialogue, joint action, hybrid spaces, shared objects of work, and the agency of the future teacher as a mediator of knowledge. In addition, eight guiding dimensions are proposed for evaluating bidirectionality: enabling conditions, relational symmetry, reciprocity of the flow of knowledge, mutual learning, co-construction, contributions, institutionalization, and impact. The results show that the available evidence focuses on learning and contributions, while evidence of sustained and institutional impacts remains limited. The review thus provides a conceptual framework for understanding bidirectionality as a process that can be classified and evaluated empirically, rather than as an inherent property of any university–school relationship.