Current teacher preparation programmes, anchored in traditional school organization, do not seem capable of providing beginning teachers of mathematics with the bases that can achieve the changes needed in mathematics education. Beginning elementary teachers of mathematics are handicapped by isolated classrooms, lack of models of expert practice, their school experiences with mathematics, and their own dispositions toward mathematics. The paper draws attention to the dilemmas which classroom teaching presents for neophyte teachers as they assume responsibility for classes and mathematics instruction. It discusses the implications for initial teacher education if teachers are to acquire both a knowledge and a pedagogical base which can support their attempts at mathematics instruction.