The aim of this paper is to assess how student teachers and new teachers, view their educational programme and the professional work as a teacher with special regard to learning, responsibility and collaboration. The results reflect differences in the dominating pattern between the two groups of how some of the crucial aspects of a professional teacher role are perceived. The results varied from a vague and unarticulated view of the concepts, to a multi-dimensional understanding of their relevance for the teacher role. Two overarching ways of contextualising the concepts are discernible; educational context orientation and work life context orientation.