This paper examines elementary education in Brazil, including the most important and difficult problems teachers and teacher educators face, and the main theories and theoretical frameworks that researchers have used in studying these problems. Elementary school teachers complete a special course, corresponding to high school rather than university level. Most elementary school teachers are female, from low middle class families, with little education. Many work in schools with few material resources, earn low salaries, and have low professional status. The most difficult problems facing these teachers include: lack of preparation for teaching poor children with economic, social, and cultural backgrounds different from their own; teacher education programs that ignore practical knowledge and expertise developed by successful teachers; and lack of direct connection between theoretical studies and the practical world. Problems facing researchers investigating these problems include: teacher research and teacher education research that is developed on teachers rather than with teachers; research that blames teachers' classroom practice for the bad results of education; and research findings not reaching the school teachers. New approaches for education research such as ethnographic studies and life stories could help provide better understanding of the reality of elementary school teachers and the social context of schooling. (Contains 10 references.) (ND)