The aim of this paper is to discuss teacher education as an agent for professional identity development, in the perspective of the "new school". In the LAROM project a questionnaire was given 1784 students in Sweden and Denmark at the beginning of their teacher education. 1303 students answered (response rate 73%). We thus obtained background data as well as data on respondents, opinions on teachers' work and the education system. Cluster analysis resulted in the construction of four main professional dispositions, viz. an indistinct disposition, a student oriented disposition, a profession oriented disposition, and a performance oriented disposition. These constructions were a point of departure for additional, more detailed, analysis. From a social constructionist perspective, teacher education is produced in the everyday interactions between students and educators, in the local setting. The analysis showed that there are considerable differences in students' professional dispositions between the two countries, and between education providers. Thus teacher educators in different settings face quite different problems concerning educating teachers for "the new school". In Sweden these problems are accentuated by the current teacher education reform.