In this study, the development of prospective early childhood teachers' competencies during teacher education is investigated. In detail, early childhood teachers' beliefs about the relevance of competencies, their competence-related self-concept and objective measures of knowledge regarding language and language development were assessed. Altogether the sample consists of 1120 prospective early childhood teachers of different educational tracks in Germany (professional schools and universities), half of the sample at the beginning and the other half at the end of preservice teacher education. Descriptive analyses give insight into perceived relevance and competence-related self-concepts in various domains and language-related knowledge at the beginning and the end of teacher education. Multilevel analyses show that differences in subjective and objective competence-facettes between beginners and graduates as well as between students of different educational tracks exist. Implications for early childhood teacher education are discussed. (author abstract)