Abstract
This study documents and explores the patterns that arise across twenty-five European post-primary initial physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes. The selection process to the PETE programmes appears to revolve around three instances; (i) entry requirements administered by the programme / institute in which the programme belongs, (ii) school grades, and (iii) sport performance. Three curriculum-related areas evident across all countries were content knowledge (also referred to as „scientific discipline‟), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (also referred to as „educational sciences‟ and „didactics‟) and school placements (also referred to as „teaching placement‟ and „school internship‟). „Standards‟ and „accreditation‟ were two phrases used (sometimes interchangeably) by countries to convey what individuals needed to demonstrate to be considered as a graduate from the PETE programme. Different requirements for graduation are evident across countries. Different countries noted a range of expected attributes that individuals would possess on graduating from PETE programmes. The demographics of each country, the support for teachers and teacher education, those choosing to enter teacher education and the biographies and experience of those delivering PETE programmes are some of the important nuances that need to be considered in accurately capturing the enactment of PETE in each respective country.