While teacher educators in Norway are employed based on academic criteria, student teachers continue to search for practical ideas in how to master their teaching role. This paper explores teacher educators’ competence viewed from their own and their student teachers’ perspective in a Norwegian context aiming to develop deeper understanding of teacher educators’ roles. The research instruments were for the student teachers (120) questionnaires and focus groups, and for the teacher educators (12) semi-structured interviews. The informants were asked about the role, about how they judged the importance of experiences and of research, and what teaching skills they found important. They were requested to define a good teacher educator and asked what they regarded as teacher educators’ particular knowledge and expertise. The quantitative data was analysed using SPSS. The qualitative data was thematically coded and categories developed through a moderation process. The work is still in progress, but some preliminary findings have emerged. The most striking discrepancy between the groups is how they regard the importance of experience and research. In the paper some tentative implications of the study will be suggested.