This paper reports on a mathematics leader who participated as a co-teacher alongside a teacher educator in a university classroom. The collaboration was designed to bring the profession into the university. Case study research design and qualitative methods were used to analyse written self-reflections, transcripts of interviews and the co-teachers' post-lesson discussion notes. Along with identifying the benefits of the co-teaching for pre-service teachers, it became evident that the mathematics leader also benefitted from this experience. The findings suggest that such collaborative co-teaching experiences may be a legitimate professional learning experience for school mathematics leaders.