Conceptions of theory within initial teacher education in England are adjusting to new conditions where most learning how to teach is school-based. Student teachers on a programme situated primarily in an employing school were monitored within a practitioner enquiry by their university programme tutors according to how they progressively understood theory. The tutors meanwhile also focused on how their own conceptions of theory responded and evolved in relation to their students' changing perceptions. This resulted in the students retrospectively identifying and developing theoretical and analytical capabilities. University sessions became a reflective platform from which to critically interrogate the emergent story of what it is to be a teacher in a school. There are implications for schools and universities about what it is to learn to be a teacher.