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In contexts of adversity, there is a need to educate pre-service teachers with specialized content knowledge so they can carry out the work of teaching effectively. This article draws upon a study with three pre-service teachers in Malawi that examines the understanding they develop of the knowledge needed to carry out mathematics teaching tasks, in particular, the knowledge needed sequence instructional tasks sequence and use mathematical representations in classrooms. The research was conducted in one teacher education college where the curriculum is under development and has an emergent demand for qualifying teachers in mathematics. The research methodology was based on a questionnaire, interviews, teaching observations, and group discussions. The data were thematically analyzed through two themes reflecting the knowledge pre-service teachers considered necessary for teaching mathematics. While the first theme reveals how preservice teachers understand this knowledge as a reference for meeting curricular standards and students’ needs, the second captures a form of understanding that attempts to go beyond conceptual knowledge. The findings can help better understand the preservice teachers’ learning and experience during teacher education and how theoretical constructs are conceived in challenging contexts of teacher education.