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In this paper we present a review of published empirical studies over the last 20 years on consultation in the context of the Spanish education system, its principal results and methodological limitations. A predominance is noted of investigations whose objective is not so much to explain efficacy, but rather to describe and understand consultation activities from the perspective of those conducting them, based on surveys and self-reports of various types. A considerable part of the results of these studies coincide in that they show the perception of importance and special difficulty of teacher consultation. They also show the implicit models and conceptions. Additionally, they highlight a growing interest in case studies which report what consultants think and do, by means of observation techniques and discourse analysis. This line of investigation has permitted the documentation of some of the main difficulties of collaborative consultation, and of strategies used by consultants to overcome them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]