This paper examines educational development in East Timor. It is particularly concerned with the period between October 1999 and May 2002 when the country was governed by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET). The paper argues that UNTAET missed an important opportunity to implement the transformation in education that was called for by Timorese leaders. This was in part due to the extensive damage to East Timor's education system as a result of Indonesia's violent withdrawal in 1999. It was also due to the UNTAET period being the latest phase of a long history of external actors seeking to govern East Timor. As another (albeit far more benign) external actor, UNTAET's efforts in the educational sector lacked legitimacy and thus popular acceptance from the people of East Timor.