This article reports the outcomes of a literature review and empirical data. The aim isto provide a rationale for why bridging the well documented theory-practice gap iscritical for helping academics to develop as teachers in the scholarship of teaching.The question of how Boyer’s concept of scholarship, with a special focus on thescholarship of application and the relation between theory and practice can be takenin consideration when arranging teaching and learning in higher education, isdiscussed. It is argued that an inclusive nature of relationships between theory andpractice is a holistic necessity for professional development. This work builds onprevious studies of professional development by Dreyfus and Dreyfus. The resultsuggests that a well organized mentorship in combination with active participantsare two strategies to interweave theory with practice in teacher training in highereducation in order to support the scholarship of teaching.