This investigation asked a small group of student teachers participating in their first pre-service teaching practice in New Zealand to state what they understood by the term feedback, how they expected to be given feedback, what they hoped to gain from the feedback they received, and what they found useful, particularly in relation to influencing their professional teaching practice. The students completed the same questionnaire on four different occasions during their first block of professional teaching practice: after the observing lecturer visit; at a mid-placement meeting with their lecturer; at a one-to-one debriefing session with their lecturer; and after the marking of an assignment related to their professional teaching practice. The findings suggest that specific, spoken feedback was the most consistently given and useful mode of feedback. The students received a wider variety and range of feedback than they had expected and indicated that it had more than met their expectations and given them clear focus and direction for their future professional teaching practice.