This article focuses on a virtual research environment (VRE) and how it facilitated the networking of teacher educators participating in an Economic and Social Research Council-funded research capacity-building project. Using the theoretical lenses of situated learning and socio-cultural approaches to literacy, participants' ways of engaging with…

Raising standards in education has been the mantra for educational stakeholders in England for the past two decades and has informed national, regional and local agendas for school improvement. In the relentless pursuit of finding solutions to pedagogical problems, action research has been promoted as an effective strategy. Informed by an…

Examined German and English mentor teachers' beliefs about their role in school-based teacher training, noting the influence of cultural and structural frameworks. Survey and interview data indicated that structural and cultural factors influenced mentors, who perceived various aspects of their roles differently, yet showed convergence in certain…