This book is part of the Teacher Education Policy in Europe's (TEPE) publication series focusing on teacher education quality in Europe. The volume, Enhancing the value of teacher education research: Implications for policy and practice brings together state-of-the-art contributions on teacher education research from different European contexts, including Austria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Norway, Kosovo, the Netherlands, and Israel. The book's main themes, enhancing value, informing policy, and improving practice, are structured into three parts, i.e., 4-5-5 chapters respectively, highlighting emergent issues, trends, methodologies, theories, challenges, and possibilities for improving the quality and relevance of teacher education research. Although the studies come mainly from European contexts, much of the challenges, e.g. the institutionalization of teacher education (Chapter 7), and the possibilities, e.g. the role of action research (Chapters 11 &12), resonate with and have implications in other contexts.

The book starts with a chapter that succinctly sets the context of the contributions, which include tensions between “educational and academic functions” (p. 2) of university-based teacher education institutions. The chapter also provides a useful conceptual framework which underpins the contributions of the subsequent chapters. Research in, on, and for teacher education are presented as complimentary aspects in which arguments for synergizing the small-scale (qualitative) research with large-scale and longitudinal studies are foregrounded. The framework also lays out a premise that research should aim for improving practice and hence revitalize the roles and values of teacher education. After providing an overview of the 13 chapters, this introductory chapter concludes by sharing six ‘messages’ of the book. This review makes use of these six issues as frameworks for reviewing what and how these messages are reflected in the subsequent chapters.

In part I, Symeonidis highlights a research-informed stance by pointing out the agency of teacher educators and their institutions through creating a “professionalized accountability framework through their own research and practice” (p. 17). In chapter 1, Smith echoes this stance by arguing for a researching teacher educators not only to develop research skills for consuming and producing knowledge and to enhance their practice, but also to be critically reflexive practitioners through examining values and beliefs. With the first two keynote chapters, the first part of the book introduces case studies and large scale surveys highlighting the role and value of research in teacher education. Mikkilä-Erdmann et al.'s chapter on research-based teacher education, for example, argues how embedding research skills in a teacher education program could enhance what they call “the epistemic agency of teachers” based on a Finnish experience. They outline such epistemic dimensions including questioning teaching practices, understanding learners' needs, and relating with and interpreting research knowledge.

While the aforementioned studies may relate with research in teacher education, the chapter by Christodoulou argues for the potential of biographical research “in promoting teachers' self-interrogation regarding their identity, their teaching methods or the relationships with their colleagues” (p. 62) by “thinking causally through the socio-ontological and epistemological framework of Critical Realism [a critical social philosophy]” (p. 77). Hence, Christodoulou argues that such an approach could not only strike a productive balance between research in (insiders' knowledge) and on (deeper and rigorous analysis with wider implications) teacher education, but could also complement in enhancing the value of teacher education research.

The chapters by Derler et al. and Czerniawski et al., which could be considered as research on teacher education, explore how practical professional knowledge shape research priorities and inclinations of student teachers and the professional learning needs of school-based teacher educators respectively. In these chapters, two key constraints could be spelled out while enhancing the value of research in teacher education. First, while academic programs of teacher preparation (particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic) could support candidates relate and get sensitized with emerging challenges, e.g., digitalization, they could also be detached from the needs and well-being of learners. Hence, the need for productively bridging academic and practice-based professional preparation for teachers is brought up as a tenable issue for due attention. Second, while research needs, especially in relation to academic writing, could be a desirable competency by teacher educators, institutional and contextual constraints often limit the actualization of such needs in practice. Accordingly, contextual concerns and practices could be the basis for the (research) professional development by teachers/teacher educators (Vanassche, 2022). These relates with calls for enacted rather than demanded professionalism in teacher education (Vanassche, 2022).

The empowerment of teachers/teacher educators is seen as central in the promotion of research-informed teacher education throughout the chapters. While the policy implication of this message is not clearly explicated in Part 2, practical possibilities are reflected in different studies in Part 3. Initiatives on systemic and personal levels for research-informed teacher education (Chapter 1), a Finnish research workshop program (Chapter 2), and the potential of biographical research for developing teachers' critical reflexive practices (Chapter 3) reiterate this message. In point, teacher education's footing in the current higher education landscape as “tension between discipline and profession” (p. 149) would require critically reflective professionals who could not only mediate such a tension, but also to constrictively manage them in improving their pedagogy and research profiles.

In Part 3, practical possibilities are shared from diverse contexts on how such an empowerment could happen in and through research. The role of action research and course designs are highlighted. Yet, the rather overlapping learning experiences of (student) teachers, teacher educators, and researchers/contributors in the studies cannot be clearly discerned. This is important for not only highlighting the relational nature of such a research co-engagement (Chapter 13) but also for explicating ethical tensions involved while conducting research in teacher education (Cuenca, 2020).

Charalambous's chapter addresses the fourth message of the book as it outlines how large-scale studies could help in understanding the strategic association of teacher characteristics, teaching quality, and student learning. The author discusses lessons from large-scale studies for informing future research which include the significance of combining teacher and teaching quality and small-scale (qualitative) studies in uncovering conditions, contexts, and complexities imbued while associating teaching with student learning (pp. 132–133). While such a message may enhance the field of teacher education research in general, it is not clear who could be involved and whose interest should be prioritized given the moral nature of teaching (Biesta, 2007), or how bottom-up and top-down studies could be synchronized in achieving such a productive alignment.

Smith's chapter seems to indicate how system level research initiatives and networks could boost personal (small-scale studies), e.g., engagements in self-studies and action researches, which in turn could help in contextualizing and revitalizing teacher education research. The relationship and dynamism of such an alignment in informing policy and practice could be more elaborated, for example through models or theory of change highlighting improvement routes and possibilities.

Given the multi-dimensional nature of teacher learning (Korthagen, 2017), developing purposeful and contextualised research methodologies becomes imperative. This book reports the development and use of innovative methodologies. For example, Agostini et al.'s chapter explore phenomenological vignette research as a tool for professionalization among trainee and practicing teachers. Cijvat et al.'s chapter share the development and use of a conversational community framework in supporting participant teacher educators connect research with their (teaching)practice and curriculum development. Fürstenberg presents an intervention on developing research literacy of student teachers of English as a foreign language while developing their personal methodologies. These contributions are not only informative but also inspirational for readers in this field as they share diverse approaches on how research could improve practice. Yet, though these studies could be considered as research in teacher education, they are either carried out as part of system level initiatives, e.g. the Erasmus+ Teacher Academies Action, or by researchers working with teacher educators. Hence, one could ask how such research embeddedness among communities of practice could be sustained beyond the projects as the professional development of teachers/teacher educators is not only a matter of ‘upskilling’ competencies, but a matter of lifelong learning across the teacher education continuum (Loughran, 2014).

Interventions made in initial teacher education courses while embedding action and improvement oriented research activities are notable methodologies. Kaçaniku shares such an initiative of integrating problem-solving research model into course design, where the purpose was to influence prospective teachers' attitude on the role and value of research in their (teaching) practice. Similarly, Poom-Valickis and Ulla discuss an action research which aimed at influencing prospective teachers' attitude on inclusive education practices through changes introduced in a course design which connected theoretical knowledge with classroom realities. These studies show how research could be positioned within practice with implications for (re)imagining the structure and conduct of teacher preparation. Again, the authors are reporting what happened to student teachers during and after the interventions using traditional and positivist research methods. While such an approach has a role for advancing teacher education research, it is unclear what values practicing teachers/teacher educators draw and deploy through their engagements in such initiatives. In other words, research in teacher education could benefit from practicing teachers/teacher educators' proactive engagements as teachers, researchers, and authors of their practices. Engagements in writing and publishing practice-based and practical experiences have direct implications for research-informed teacher education (Chapter 1).

Research in teacher education is rightly visualized as a continuum because it happens in different sites of practice and in a context of changing roles of practitioners, e.g., school teachers transitioning to becoming teacher educators. Accordingly, synergies among the main stakeholders, namely learners, parents, school communities, student teachers, teachers, school leaders, teacher educators, and policy makers becomes critical in enhancing the value of research in teacher education. Guberman et al. showcase how such a synergy could be forged among key stakeholders, i.e., researchers, teacher educators, and policy makers. They discuss the role of an inter-institutional body in facilitating such a synergy. The ‘weaving’ process of practice, research, and policy making were concretized through research projects as the relationship among the stakeholders prefigured research initiatives which induced incremental teacher education changes as a dynamic interplay of collaborative research-in-practice and informed policy making.

This is in contrast in contexts, e.g., in sub-Saharan Africa, where hierarchical structures and relationships constrain professional development of teacher educators (Stutchbury, 2019). Another telling synergy is Cijvat et al.'s chapter among researchers and teacher educators. The authors' intervention through creating a conversational community framework in bridging research and practice could be seen as a form of empowering teacher educators in their immediate context and practice. The authors accordingly rightly argue for a new “way of understanding research based teacher education, in which an inquiring attitude on the part of teacher educators as active and reflexive agents is crucial, stimulating critical reflection on their thoughts, judgements and decisions” (p. 317).

Beyond showcasing studies of developing synergies, the book details innovative projects and networks within the European countries and union's contexts. For example, the €500 million German national program for improving the quality of teacher education project provides a telling example on the role of funding in mobilizing a “societal voice for teacher education” (p. 165). This is in a backdrop of structural constraints, including competing demands for teaching and research, status differentials, and disciplinary dependency, which limits the status and institutionalization of teacher education in the higher education landscape. Additionally, stakeholder institutions, e.g. universities, schools, and policy makers, have priorities which do not necessarily centre teacher education (Chapter 7). While these developments are encouraging and exemplary for countries to provide a similar attention to teacher education, empowering institutional leadership is also critical because “the teacher education institute as an organization needs to be the focus of understanding [as] teacher educators mostly do not passively resign to the contextualities of their work” (Vanassche, 2022, p. 6).

The complementarities of research in, on, and for teacher education used as a conceptual framework for the chapters are reflected in the six messages. Research is not only positioned as a tool for informing policy and improving practice but as a means for revitalizing the field across the teacher education continuum and questioning beliefs and values while assuming roles. While the contributions by seasoned researchers in the field seem to underline the intimate nature of teacher education scholarship, the chapters' insights resonates beyond improving practice in positioning policymaking as an integral part of practice and research (Chapter 9). On the other hand, the studies and initiatives show how research could be mobilized in positioning practices as a source and resource for advancing the field of teacher education research.

Additionally, the order of the messages do not seem to imply linearity but more of a spherical relationship where one aspect influences or compliments the rest. For example, development of innovative methodologies is grounded on the burgeoning tradition of research-informed teacher education and the central role of practitioners' reflexivity. Similarly, it creates conditions for synergy among stakeholders where such innovative methodologies become the resources and/or mobilize enabling structures. Cijvat et al.'s chapter on creating conversational communities could be one telling case where such a community served as a resource in connecting research, practice, and curriculum development in one context. Hence, the chapter contributions' positioning of research as a social practice (Usher, 1996) helps to imagine teacher education development beyond discrete labelling of practice, policy, and research towards a fluid, dynamic, and productive relationships.

Research by teachers/teacher educators into their practice is seen as significant aspect for enhancing the value of teacher education research. However, the chapters, mainly in Part 3, were conducted by researchers whose positioning with the study context, the participant practitioners, and their own learning during the process are not necessarily clear. This dilemma is captured in Cijvat et al.'s chapter: “the challenge is what balance our role as researchers should strike: are we critical friends – keeping a distance between researchers and teacher educators – or partners in the process of curriculum development” (p. 318). Accordingly, contributions of teachers/teacher educators' self-studies and/or action researches could have more substantiated the messages of the book. It seems future research could take up significant questions on learning overlaps or, according to Kemmis (2022), ecologies of practices accounting for changes happening due to interdependence of initiatives among, for example, practitioners, academic researchers, and policy makers.

The role of intentional course designs in nurturing the value of teacher education research were showcased in two chapters. Initial teacher education programs offer significant opportunities in connecting research and practice. Smith's notion (Chapter 1) of researching teacher educators is one significant conceptual tool for showing what it means and takes to researching (teaching) practices. Teacher education courses, especially conducted in school and university settings, in this case provide an invaluable context for embodying the value of research in teacher education. Beyond research projects done for improvements, teacher/teacher educators' initiatives for improving their courses could promote what Harland (2016) referred to us teaching-led research where student teachers, teacher educators, school communities etc. co-engage in a knowledge producing community. Moreover, opportunities created for building communities of practice (Vanassche, 2022), while implementing innovative course design could be a resource on their own for empowering practitioners, improving practice, and sustaining changes. Hence, this review aligns with Vanassche, Kelchtermans, Vanderlinde, and Smith (2021) calls for practice-based professional development in which research is positioned as integral part of practice.

This book provides useful frameworks, theoretical foundations, and innovative methodologies for enabling teacher educators to excel in their teaching and researching duties. Hence, teacher educators, both school and university-based, could benefit from such experiences to engage in developing much needed scholarship of what, why, and how they practice teacher educating within a given contextual and institutional affordances and constraints. The book is also an invitation for teacher educators to assume their researcher identities which is implicit in their work. Familiarization with teacher education research networks and intervention schemes could be another boon of the book for teacher educators to learn from their implementation and outcomes. Accordingly, teacher educators are the prime target readers of this book as it showcased the interdependences and intricacies of their duties.

It was exciting to read policy as action-taking which could be integrated with practice and research instead of a stable and lofty phenomenon which demands from and regulates teacher education. This perspective is much needed in contexts where hierarchical relationship among policy makers and practitioners often limits productive collaboration for improvements.