Recent refinements to the professional practice strand of one of the teacher training programs offered by the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand have integrated teaching related experiences into four compulsory courses that develop and extend key concepts and issues directly related to successful teaching practice in New Zealand. The four courses weave together to form a unified strand of the overall Bachelor of Education degree program so that theory and practice can be related together in a supported, meaningful and reflective manner by the trainees during their studies. The courses, offered in successive years through the four-year program, begin by introducing the principles and practices of learning and teaching in New Zealand primary schools; with an initial focus on management and planning. This leads onto consideration of how teachers take learning theories into account; and the relating of current learning theory, teaching and learning issues, and evaluation techniques and principles, to classroom practice. This in turn is followed by critical analysis of the issues surrounding educational development at the national level; and the factors which beginning teachers must take into account in the implementation and assessment of a classroom program. And finally, the themes developed through theory and practice in the profession are built into a case-study approach to the study, review and implementation of themes and innovations in New Zealand education; with main focus being on the principles and effects of the self-managing school. This paper will outline the essential features of the four courses and the way they successfully fit together to form a cohesive constituent of the whole degree. (Author)