This paper explores the long tradition of partnership work with teachers and schools at the Faculty of Education in the University of Cambridge. Historically, regional and local connections have always been important and have been embedded in ways of working within the University and in structures between the University and other educational institutions. This paper maps the development of thinking and practice in this area, problematising aspects such as teachers’ knowledge (Cochran-Smith and Lytle 2001; Connelly, Clandinin & Ming, 1997), professional development (Altrichter and Posch, 2009; Sachs, 2003), school improvement (MacBeath and Moos, 2000) and research (Schratz and Walker, 1995). We give brief examples of the history, development and structural arrangements of three current partnerships between the Faculty of Education and local authorities and schools. We consider the distinctive contributions of our partnerships in supporting CPD and school improvement and explore issues and dilemmas arising.  We end the paper by theorising our partnership work drawing on the foundational work of Lawrence Stenhouse (1975) and colleagues at the Centre for Applied Research in Education (CARE) together with conceptual insights from more recent international empirical work including that reported by Gravani (2008), Tsui and Law (2007), and Anagnostopolous, Smith, and Basmadjian (2007).