<p>The research examines scientific culture in initial teacher education in natural sciences, focusing on the representational and value-laden elements that shape discourses on science and its teaching. Conducted in three regions of central-southern Chile, the study involved semi-structured interviews with 35 informants, including pre-service teachers and academics. The analysis employed a complementary approach, integrating techniques from constructivist grounded theory with the epistemological framework of critical discourse analysis. The findings indicate that scientific culture is constructed through three main discourses: (i) a technocratic and theory-centered discourse, (ii) a methodological and didactic discourse, and (iii) a sociopolitical discourse, which converge around the notion of scientific literacy, yet are strained by the predominance of scientific theory in teaching. The study concludes that scientific culture in initial teacher education is influenced by an epistemological and ideological/political debate that unfolds within a discursive system based on a triad of positions, where the primacy of scientific theory emerges as a key node from which transversal tensions arise, hindering the shift toward a scientific culture aligned with territorial demands in science teacher education.</p>