There is significant evidence to support the value of observation for learning to teach in practice teaching (Buchmann, 1989;Guyton&McIntyre, 1990; Weade & Everston, 1991; Mazor, 2003). The theoretical rationale for the value of observation for learning to teach can be grounded in the assertion that 'seeing' in practice (Ryle, 1980) is inherently constructive and, as such, is regarded as a worthwhile learning opportunity in professional learning and teacher education. Buchmann's work (1989) reminds us of the potential of seeing in connecting old to new. Student teachers sense making from 'seeing' is constructed by their assumptions about teaching and by their own experiences as pupils observing their own teachers. This claim can be supported by Schon's (1983) argument of the relationship between seeing and knowing. He maintains that practitioners obtain a repertoire of past experiences which enable them to 'see' and make sense of new situations. Kessels and Korthagen (1996) allocate perceptual practical wisdom to observation, which is situation specific and guided by students' subjective perceptions. Kvernbeckk (2000) goes beyond sensory perception and claims that observation is theory-laden and is influenced by the theories that we accept and are able to observe. The learning value attributed to perceptual and conceptual modes of 'seeing' in observation underscore their significance to the practice teaching experience. What challenged this research is a discrepancy between students' attribution of 'no learning' and 'little value' to observation in their practicum, and our research evidence that revealed 'significant learning' on multifaceted levels. Thus the focus of the research is: the meanings that student-teachers attribute to the experience of observation in practice teaching, and how and whether these meanings can be understood as learning experiences.

A qualitative research approach drawing on inductive, recursive cycles of close interpretative readings (Gadamer, 1982) was adopted. Thirty student-teachers of English in their second year of practice teaching, in a university teacher education programme, participated in the research. 10 semi-structured observational tasks were submitted by each student and yielded a pool of 300 entries which were analyzed by two independent readers to identify grounded categories, which were triangulated across and within cases (Patton, 1990). The process led to the construction of an analytic framework for analyzing the entries at levels of making connections, pedagogical, practical and educational levels of 'seeing in observation'.

The evidence shows that although student-teachers were inclined to attribute little learning value to the experience of observation, content analysis of entries revealed learning at multifaceted practical, pedagogical and educational levels. The evidence clarifies how observation constituted a site for surfacing gaps between 'envisioned' and 'observed', which led to making educational assertions, gaining new understandings , formulating educational principles, drawing educational implications and articulating new personal theories of teaching and leaning. Implications for teacher learning and teacher education programmes will be discussed by trying to answer the question of: What can teacher education programmes do to help students ‘see’ in practice?