This paper reports on some findings from the project ‘Analysing the Transition from Secondary to Tertiary Education in Mathematics’. One of key variables in the school to university transition is the teacher/lecturer, and here we deal with data analysing secondary teachers’ and tertiary lecturers’ responses to four mathematics questions. Elsewhere we consider knowledge, preparedness and teaching style etc, but this paper tracks the ability to use mathematical procedures. We hypothesise that this is a function of what we pay attention to, as described in Mason’s discipline of noticing. The results reveal that many teachers and lecturers fail to notice the necessary conditions for problems that imply that procedures are not always applicable. Possible reasons for this along with implications for student learning are discussed.