Much has been written about family therapy training and supervision from the perspective of teachers and supervisors. However, the perspective of family therapy trainees is not well represented in the literature. Research employing student responses is common, but results are offered from the perspective of the trainers of family therapy and the subjective experience of students is frequent ly left untapped . One area of training and supervision, basic therapy skills, offers no perspectives from family therapy trainees. This research examined trainee perspectives concerning basic family therapy skills and made comparisons to trainer perspectives regarding the same skills. The findings indicate that some differences exist in those skills valued as most important to students when compared to the same skills evaluated by their instructors. Students place value on self attributes and joining skills whereas teachers and supervisors value professional ethics and the students ' knowledge base when ranking skills.