This article presents Norwegian and Croatian students' perspectives on conditions for their professional growth during undergraduate kindergarten teacher education. The data gathered through focus group interviews are theorized using the cultural-historical wholeness approach that identifies institutional conditions for the development of certain motivations and acts. Since the students from the two countries generally perceive the institutional conditions for their learning as insufficient, the conclusions refer to certain institutional practices that could strengthen the development of competences that students recognize as the most relevant. These competences to act grow at the intersection of theory and practice.