This article uses an activity-theoretical perspective on context to explore final-year student nurses' and student teachers' perceptions of learning in their professional programmes. We analyse focus group interviews about critical aspects of teaching and nursing preparation and articulate processes of learning within and across coursework and fieldwork training. The comparative analysis reveals particular differences between students' perceptions whereas student nurses, especially in the final year of their programme, experience that both college teachers and practice supervisors help them to contextualise theoretical and practical forms of knowledge so as to enhance their learning, student teachers portray their four-year programme as largely disconnected from the school setting with significant negative learning effects. We discuss possible explanations for these differences and argue that situated approaches should be expanded to better explain and facilitate the process of meaningful learning and thinking.