While doctoral students in education are taught research skills in their programmes, they are rarely explicitly taught how to plan and develop effective curricula, the types of guiding questions which are important to consider or how to study this process in order to improve practices. In an attempt to address this, the authors use Jackson’s (1968) framework for reflecting on teacher planning. The following questions are addressed: how does a teacher educator plan and develop a curriculum for student teachers? How do teacher educators critically examine their curriculum planning and development practices? What are the central questions, areas of focus and principles essential for consideration in such planning and development? For each phase of the planning process, a series of questions is presented. The principles derived from these questions may serve as a useful heuristic to guide the work of new teacher educators.