As they complete their teacher education degrees, Graduate Teachers should possess knowledge and skills to plan for, and manage, learning programs for their students. Their graduate competencies include designing lessons that meet the requirements of curriculum, assessment and reporting. As they embark on a teaching career that moves them forward to "proficient" and further to "highly accomplished" status, they should possess a baseline set of understandings about professional contexts in schools. This professional competence must include an understanding of curriculum and curriculum processes. This article discusses a number of key issues for pre-service language teacher education students and language teacher educators in the broader national context as the details of the "Australian Curriculum: Languages" are emerging. These issues are termed the "pieces of the puzzle" being considered by preservice teachers. These "puzzle pieces" need to be considered, understood and acted upon in order for accomplished language teaching and learning to take place in school languages programs.