This paper takes as its focus the initial impressions of education and the role of the educator among those entering the "profession" of "FE educator". The research is carried out with those currently working as educators undertaking recognised teaching qualifications through part-time, in-service training at either C&G Stage 1 & 2 Combined or PGCE/Cert. Ed. level, at a large college of FE. The conflicting notions of the role of the educator in FE held by researchers in the sector are initially discussed and later compared with the views of the new learner-educators. The research itself, which is the initial part of a larger study, focuses on the identification of preconceptions of the role of the educator held by educators new to the FE environment and their emotional responses to being in the position of educator. It is carried out through the construction of image-based rebuses by individual learner-educators responding to a series of statements and a subsequent oral deconstruction of the rebus during recorded semi-structured discussions focusing on their views of their specific role(s) and their more general impressions of the educators' role in FE. The investigation identifies a number of key common strands among the opinions expressed by those involved in the study and looks at the impact that the role has on new educators at both a personal and professional level and the potential effect that this may have on the future development of the profession itself.