In New Zealand and Australia, the extant research base in physical education teacher education (PETE) has, for some time, reported on the rationale for, and enactment of, socially critical perspectives. However, this research has largely explicated teaching strategies and the challenges faced by teacher educators who adopt this perspective, with the vast majority of this research articulated from the perspective of the researcher who is often researching their own practice. In this study, we investigated the 'readings' of critical PETE from the perspective of 19 PETE students who were in their final year of a four-year programme that espoused a critical perspective. We report on their understanding of critical pedagogy and how this may inform their own teaching practices. Data were collected through focus group and semi-structured interviews, and analysed through a five-stage process of thematic analysis (Braun, B., & Clarke , V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.). Our analysis suggests that critical approaches in the PETE programme have made a difference to all students, yet it is a different difference for each student. Their understandings of 'critical pedagogy ranged from their own reflection on teaching and problematizing knowledge to more nuanced understandings that centre on examining one's own beliefs and exploring issues of power. Many students admitted that they did not have a clear understanding of critical pedagogy. We conclude that the programmatic attempt to privilege social justice has shifted students' conceptions of teaching toward student student-centred humanistic principles, but has by no means empowered students to be critical pedagogues as future teachers.