Evaluation of professional socialisation can provide insight on the impact of Physical Education Teacher Education. A large-scale (n=326) single question ‘What is PE?’ qualitative methodology was used to access pre-service primary teachers’ understandings of the nature and purpose of physical education . Data analysis involved word frequency queries and coding using a qualitative coding framework based on the dominant discourses of physical education. Trustworthiness of the analysis was addressed using memos, coding checks and peer de-briefing. While responses at the beginning of the programme were dominated by sport and health discourses, an educational discourse grounded in the key messages of the primary physical education curriculum with emphasis on equality of opportunity emerged at the end of the programme. The complexity of addressing understandings in teacher education contexts is highlighted.