This paper explores student teachers' academic preparation to be teachers. Despite the fact that a persisting criticism is directed towards the 'academic' part of teacher education, we know little about student teachers' academic learning practice as learners in higher education. The paper reports on a Norwegian study of 24 student teachers and shows how the theory of practice architectures can usefully illuminate some of the difficulties students encounter in their initial teacher education. The findings are mainly elaborated in the construction of two student teachers' stories. Using the theory of practice architectures, we argue that the rationales for student teachers' criticisms of teacher education are more nuanced than they are commonly presented in the research literature. We also argue that the theory of practice architectures provides a useful tool to identify conditions that influence student teachers as learners in higher education.