Despite reforms in teacher education programmes, student teachers often feel unprepared for the profession (Mohamed et al., 2017). To strengthen teacher education, Norway has implemented 5-year integrated master’s degree programmes in primary and lower secondary teacher education aiming to integrate enhanced knowledge and research competency with inquiry-rich, school-based experiences. An international advisory panel describes the reform as bold and transformative, emphasising that successful implementation requires collaboration among stakeholders and practice orientation in school experiences and master’s theses (Advisory Panel for Teacher Education, 2020). Teacher education is frequently criticised for disconnecting coursework from field experiences, calling for a more coherent education (Cavanna et al., 2021; Canrinus et al., 2019). Given the complexity in teaching, it is insufficient for student teachers to merely develop predefined skills (Smith, 2021). However, student teachers may find it challenging to recognise the value of theoretical knowledge (Darling-Hammond, 2006) and to embrace the idea of continuous learning through practice (Cochran-Smith et al., 2009). While perceptions of teacher readiness differ considerably depending on whom you ask (Alexander 2018), this paper focuses on student teacher perceptions of their readiness following the reformed teacher education trajectory. The study explores how students in these programmes perceive their readiness for the teaching profession, utilising responses from the open-ended section of a survey (n=484). In their comments the students elaborate the challenges they expect to meet as teachers, how they assess their own abilities to meet these challenges and how they can contribute positively to schools. The data were analysed using reflective thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021) and informed by the quantitative data.    The research question is:   R1: How do student teachers perceive their readiness for the teacher profession?  Preliminary findings indicate expressed concerns about professional readiness, including worries about teachers’ workload and responsibilities for which student teachers feel unprepared for. They question whether the master’s thesis will improve their teaching abilities and find the programmes overly academic and narrowly focused. They view field practice as valuable but criticise its organisation and content. Unpreparedness for the teacher role is often contrasted with the informants’ own substitute teaching experiences, portraying a different professional reality than organised practice in teacher education. Overall, it appears that the ambitious reform of Norwegian teacher education has not fully achieved its intended goals. However, students propose several improvements, including closer collaboration with schools and a broader curriculum to better address the needs of schools.

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