This paper arises from a Marie Curie Fellowship involving a link between the Leadership for Learning group at the University of Cambridge and CREA at the University of Barcelona. The Fellow is the key researcher on the ‘Teach-in’ project which is designed to explore teacher leadership and its impact on school improvement in four European countries: Finland, Romania, Spain, and the UK. This project brings together strands of thinking and research established at CREA and LfL particularly in relation to methodologies which feature action to mobilize communities and to bring about change from the grass roots. The empirical work builds on the earlier development of networks through the work of the EU funded Include-ed project and the ITL initiative funded by Open Society Foundation. Given that the project will be in its early stages at this point, the paper will concentrate on the conceptualization underpinning the project and the policy environment of the sites involved. The paper will also provide an outline of the project’s distinctive methodology.