It has been hypothesised in the PT literature that the use of PT is related to the quality of teachers and teaching practices in the mainstream education. This paper presents findings from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Azerbaijan and Georgia on educational stakeholders’ perspectives on the way pre-service teacher training is related to the omnipresent use of PT. The analyses indicated several elements related to the teacher training and PT use. First, the lower prestige of the teaching profession characterised by lower admission and selection criteria for entering into the teacher training programmes was characteristic present in all contexts. Secondly, in all countries except Estonia and Croatia, pre-service teacher training programmes are characterised by inadequate quality of internship and school exposure. Finally the data analyses indicated that teacher training of subject specialists often places emphasis on discipline knowledge focusing on the mastery of the discipline rather than on the mastery of teaching practices and methods. Together, the overall effect of these characteristics of teacher training in all contexts is that the emergence of new teachers into the teaching profession is plagued with numerous difficulties which, among other consequences, are reflected in the elevated need and use of PT services.