This paper is based on a science teacher education research project that aims to connect what we know from research on [formative] assessment with what we know about student teachers ́ development of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and, as a consequence, seeks to determine how an articulation of this knowledge can inform innovative and meaningful approaches to science teacher education. The message inherent in the project is the potential to positively focus on formative assessment of student teachers’ development of PCK in order to determine how that can contribute to student teachers’ professional learning in ways that they personally value. Therefore, an important consequential activity is the ability to develop a contemporary framework of quality pre-service teaching that builds out of the ways in which student teachers come to understand and develop their PCK.