In many European countries, the initial preparation of secondary teachers has now moved towards a more school- based provision. This development has necessitated the renewal of existing forms of support of the student- teachers' learning process in the training institution as well as on school-placement. The findings presented in this paper come from the analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with course co-ordinators, subject tutors and mentors in three initial teacher training programmes in France, England and Scotland respectively. Significant differences can be evidenced in the mentoring and tutoring schemes adopted in the three training courses. Two categories of teacher educator are common to all three institutions, the school-based subject supervisor and the institution-based subject tutor. Nonetheless, significant variations exist in their professional status and background, and in the nature of their work and responsibilities in the training programme which can be attributed to divergent conceptualisations of teaching and learning to teach as set out in the country's respective official ITE policy documents. It is argued that these variations, together with teacher educators' individual and to a certain extent team vision of the role of the teacher and of their preparation, greatly influence the way the relationship between theory and practice is envisioned and implemented in the course.