Education is a core activity of academic departments but pressure from universities to maximize research income and research productivity, and from hospitals to deliver a more efficient clinical service, has pushed the importance of education into third place in many departments. Academic departments of anaesthesia can make significant contributions to undergraduate teaching. Students appreciate the one-to-one teaching which they receive from anaesthetists and the range of practical skills which they can learn. The main teaching burden of an academic department of anaesthesia relates to education of clinical trainees. National curriculum requirements must be delivered. Organization of a structured training programme, together with the appraisal and assessment systems which are necessary to ensure satisfactory progress of each trainee, require supervision by a number of academic staff, as well as administrative support. Higher postgraduate degrees may be gained by teaching or a combination of teaching and research. Teaching methods are changing, and there are opportunities to exploit e-learning on Intranet sites, and anaesthesia simulators, in both undergraduate and postgraduate education. Clinical governance issues and increasing scrutiny by authorities which fund teaching or set professional standards have resulted in demands for evidence that educational objectives are being met and that assessment systems are robust. There is a recognition that education has a cost, and resources are available from universities and hospitals to support the teaching activities of academic departments of anaesthesia.