The chapter is a two-voice dialogue between a University teacher and an expert professional who also teaches in the Course of Study in Education. The chapter focuses on the role of the tutor in the educational services as an activator of competences for the novice as well as a mediator between the professional cultures of the service and the university. The brokering role of the tutor consists in making explicit the competences in action, in supporting each student to reflect on her/his own dispositions and in making relevant the institutional mandate of the educational institutions; reciprocally, the tutor can also recognise the new perspective the student gets to the practice, her/his willingness to apply methods and concepts in the setting. From the point of view of the University curriculum, the placement is a new instructional dimension, in which the professional knowledge is actively embodied in the professional practice. In this context, the tutor highlights the relevant activities to the novice, supports her/his reflection on the ongoing experiences and makes evident the institutional context. This communication is relevant in order to promote the students’ construction of their own professional identities.
