"Bildung" has a long tradition in continental European education but in England it is less well known and is underused to theorise about education. In this paper the German concept of "Bildung" is applied to pre-service teacher education in England where teacher education has become increasingly dominated by instrumental and technicist approaches that encroach on the development of professional values and educational wisdom. Nevertheless, criticisms to current trends in teacher education do exist in England with programmes that include values-based elements challenging the prevailing norms of this performativity driven approach. This paper adds to those criticisms by proposing "Bildung" as an underpinning philosophy of teacher education and as an unusual lens with which to reframe teacher education.