OBJECTIVE: The objective of this paper is to critically identify and analyze the many concepts that professors of the subject nutrition education have of practice and how they understand the theory-practice relationship. METHODS: The study was done in universities and colleges of the State of São Paulo, Brazil, that have been registered at the Ministry of Education since 1999. With this information, professors of the subject nutrition education were interviewed in all these institutions totaling 11 individuals. The results were analyzed qualitatively, using the hermeneutic-dialectic method. RESULTS: The professors had similar opinions regarding the importance of practice; however what practice meant in nutrition education varied. Some consider that practical activities are enough for the formation of the student and do not search theoretical fundamentals in social and human sciences. We also observed that practice was overvalued in relation to theory. All these aspects contribute to compromise the effectiveness of the theory-practice relationship. CONCLUSION: It is up to the graduation courses and the government departments that surveil education to discuss the education of the professors, the concepts behind practical activities and more effective ways to work the dialectics between practice and theory. It is necessary to stimulate, from the beginning of the graduation course, the articulation between theory and practice in order to allow the students to contextualize the acquisition of knowledge and form social and ethical compromises.
faculty; food and nutrition education; education; higher; nutritionist
