Preservice early childhood and primary teachers from teacher preparation institutions across five Australian states were surveyed regarding their perceptions of preparedness and ability to teach early reading and spelling skills, as well as their knowledge of components of early reading, such as phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge and early spelling patterns. Surveys were conducted in the final year of the teacher training courses and targeted students attending teacher education institutions providing teacher training in the area of early literacy. Although preservice teachers generally rated themselves as prepared to teach early reading, most demonstrated minimal to very poor knowledge of the components of early reading, indicating a substantial discrepancy between the general confidence of preservice teachers to teach, and their limited content knowledge of beginning reading skills. The return rates from institutions (16) and students (160) were low; however the results of this study support previous research findings, suggesting that there may be a need for reform in teacher preparation programs, especially in the area of early reading instruction.