ABSTRACT
The Importance of School Experience1 in Initial Teacher Education Courses When we reflect on our own initial teacher education course many of us will identify school experience as that part of our course in which we learned most about teaching. Likewise, many of our students2 recognize the importance of school experience in their own learning. These anecdotal accounts are supported by the results of studies over a long period of time which have identified school experience as the most important part of initial teacher education courses (Locke, 1979; Lortie, 1975; Mancini, Goss and Frye 1982; Tannehill and Zakrajsek, 1988).
