AbstractThis paper attempts to illuminate some of the complexities involved in the work of educating teachers from the perspectives of those who have a great deal of experience and expertise in this task; teacher educators. From what they say it seems that the job of preparing teachers is not an easy or straightforward matter; it is open to contestation and is constructed through the interweaving of specific dilemmas which are only ever partially resolved. This conceptualisation provides a richer and more powerful frame through which to analyse and construct the job of teacher education; any attempts which displace this complexity may just simply distort and disguise the nature of the task at hand.