This study describes the emerging themes and issues that impact on learning to teach science. The study examined whether the "language of schooling" that novices have been exposed to conflicts with the actual demands of practice, and how this conflict is resolved. Study participants were 14 Australian science graduates who had completed a Graduate Diploma in Education and taught for 2 years. Interview data are analyzed in terms of time involved in subject matter preparation, self-confidence, and collegial support. Results from the second year of the study suggest that the effects of university training are not "washed out" but are repressed as beginning teachers become immersed in the profession. Among the competing demands and complexities of teaching, teachers test the ideals they held in preservice training and come to accept what is possible. (Contains 16 references.) (JDD)