Raising the quality of initial teacher education can make an important contribution to raising the overall quality of the school system. In Australia, the National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching is used as a common framework to set standards for the accreditation of teacher education programs. However, institution-wise assessments need to be carried out regularly to explore the quality of preparation pre-service teachers receive and to what extent they feel well prepared to enter teaching. This will enable teacher education programs to implement strategies to strengthen the link between university coursework and professional practice of pre service teachers. This paper discusses the development and validation of a scale to measure pre- service teachers' perceptions of preparedness to teach, readiness to engage with the teaching profession and self-efficacy in teaching. The study also proposes a model describing the relationship among these variables. Data was collected from 235 final year pre-service teachers using a newly developed questionnaire at an Australian university. Data shows that the Pre service Teacher Professional Experience (PTPE) scale is a theoretically sound, gender invariant and psychometrically valid instrument. The implications of using the scale in teacher education programmes are discussed in the context of the findings.