Kim Joneshas worked as a Science teacher in Hertfordshire for 35 years and has been on the leadership team of a secondary academy for the last 12 years. She originally became involved in teacher education as the professional mentor at this school, overseeing the training of PGCE students from a number of universities. In 2004 the school joined the Alban Federation and began training teachers via an employment based route. In 2009 she took over as training manager for the Federation, which has since successfully become accredited as a SCITT and has been recognised as OFSTED as an outstanding provider.

Elizabeth Whitehas been working in employment based initial teacher training for five years whilst being employed as a secondary science teacher. In 2009 the provision was graded as outstanding by OFSTED. She was involved in setting up and now leads the School Direct Programme at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research has included a self-study of her experience as a new teacher educator and she is currently researching how to effectively support school-based teacher educators in their professional development.

Ian Menter (AcSS) is Professor of Teacher Education and Director of Professional Programmes in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford. He previously worked at the Universities of Glasgow, the West of Scotland, London Metropolitan, the West of England and Gloucestershire. Before that he was a primary school teacher in Bristol, England. His most recent publications include A Literature Review on Teacher Education for the 21st Century (Scottish Government) and A Guide to Practitioner Research in Education (Sage). His work has also been published in many academic journals.