The aim of the study is to investigate what happens when the experiences and conceptions of physical education (PE) student teachers encounter the value structures of a PE teacher education programme. The starting point for the study are the criticisms that the PE teacher education programme has inadequate links to science, that it finds it difficult to challenge traditional gender patterns, and that the students' experiences of their own sporting activities are more important than the education programme for what knowledge is considered valuable. The study has a cultural sociological and gender theoretical perspective. The analysis has been done with the help of Pierre Bourdieu's concepts as the tools of analysis. The empirical evidence has been collected with the help of several different methods. Quantitative data has been collected with the help of questionnaires which a total of 450 student teachers returned; qualitative data has been collected using: essays written by PE student teachers during their physical education specialisation and in-depth interviews with teacher educators. The results show that today's education is still characterised by many of the traditions, norms and values which historically have been its distinguishing features. The “rules of the game” are generally taken for granted and this is based on a shared conception in the value of the education. In the eyes of the students, the trademark of a good PE teacher is to be good at many different sports, have in-depth knowledge of human biology, and have the “right” personality. They are less interested in pedagogical issues and they would have preferred the whole course to have served them with ready-made solutions and answers. Even if gender and social issues have been part of the education, the gender habitus has changed very little during the programme. The way they see the subject is largely the same as it was before the course, but what appeared to them to be a ”pure” sports subject before the course started has afterwards become more a way of “attaining health through sport”. The study indicates that the dominating values within the PE teacher education seem to be in harmony with the students' habitus which make it difficult to challenge the ”order of things” and  that changes will take time.