a. ObjectivesBased in a teacher education college in the Republic of Ireland, this three-year, longitudinal research study analyses comparatively the evolution of the beliefs about teaching and learning of a cohort of undergraduate and postgraduate teacher education students.This paper explores the following questions:1. What are the personal theories of teaching and learning of undergraduate and postgraduate pre-service teachers?2. Do these personal theories change during teacher education programmes?3. Are there qualitative differences in the types of changes that occur to the personal theories of undergraduate and postgraduate teachers? 4. What experiences do student teachers identify as being formative, thereby effecting change in their personal theories of teaching?b. Theoretical FrameworkOver the past three decades, particularly since the work of Fuller and Bown (1975), pre-service student teachers have become a focus of study. A growing body of literature reports that student teachers enter their formal studies of teaching with already well-established beliefs about teaching and pupil learning. As pupils at primary and second level, prospective teachers have been engaged in an 'apprenticeship of observation' for at least 14 years (Lortie, 1975). Cultural archetypes and experiences of school and family leave many prospective teachers with memories and beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning (Book & Freeman,1986; Crow, 1987; Feiman-Nemser & Remillard, 1996; Sugrue, 1997; Traver, 1987; Woods, 1986). It has been shown that these beliefs interact with the content and pedagogy of teacher education programmes and influence what and how student teachers learn (Anderson & Bird, 1995; Calderhead, 1991; Kagan, 1992; Pajares, 1993 and Wubbels, 1992). In an attempt to document, understand and influence this phemonemon, researchers have raised questions about the nature of the beliefs that pre-service teachers hold (Clandinin, 1985; Feiman-Nemser & Remillard, 1996; Hollingsworth, 1989; Zeichner and Tabachnick, 1981), how they came to hold these beliefs (Grossman, 1988; Lortie, 1975; Measor, 1985) and how these beliefs need to be modified to enable their professional development as teachers (Berliner, 1986; Calderhead, 1995; Doyle 1990; Grossman,1990; Schulman, 1986). The result of this research has meant that many teacher educators increasingly see themselves in the role of 'belief-and-attitude therapists' (Boote, 2003).A dominant current concern in teacher education in Europe and internationally is to establish a greater interpenetrative dynamic between theory and methods courses and practical teaching experience (Coolahan, 2001, p.354). Taking student teachers beliefs as a starting point in teacher education and helping students to refine or expand these beliefs in the light of theoretical learning and teaching experiences points to a means of integrating theory and practice which recognises the centrality the individual student teacher.c. MethodsThe research is interpretative and uses a collective case study methodology to analyse the ongoing reflections of six undergraduate and six postgraduate students during their teacher education programmes. d. Results The paper traces and comparatively analyses the evolution undergraduate and postgraduate student teachers beliefs under the following themes: Conceptions of Self-As- Teacher Conceptions of Pupil Learning Conceptions of Task Conceptions of Impact.The results of this study will inform debate on the design and delivery of teacher education programmes at national, European and international levels.(This research study has been supported by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.)ReferencesAnderson, L., and Bird, T., (1995). How three Prospective Teachers Construed Three Cases of Teaching. Teaching & Teacher Education 10 (2).Berliner, D. (1986). In pursuit of the expert pedagogue. Educational Researcher, 15 (6) or (7), 5- 13.Bird, T, Anderson, L. M., & Swidler, S. A. (1993). Pedagogical balancing acts: Attempts to influence prospective teachers' beliefs. Teaching and Teacher Education, 9, 253 267.Book, C., & Freeman, D. (1986). 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