In this paper, three Swedish studies focusing on student teachers in transition from university to teacher practice are analyzed with respect to similarities and differences in how the teacher students describe the mathematics teaching they want to do as well as how they relate to teaching they already see carried out. Despite the different theoretical and methodological orientations in the examined studies, we find commonalities. One commonality is how the student teachers align with reform ideas when they talk about preferred mathematics teaching. Another commonality is how teaching observed in school based teacher education is typically described in negative terms since it does not conform to these reform ideas. We discuss this divide as a potentially negative effect of trying to use teacher education as a reform instrument.