Research indicates that increasingly teacher education has become a profession under pressure. These pressures are caused by teacher shortages and the high quality demands placed on teacher education (Flores, 2023). In this context, it is vital to engage with the quality of teacher educators however this occupational group is difficult to define and identify (White, 2019; Van der Klink et al., 2017). Therefore, in this study we aimed to gain insight into the professional roles of teacher educators, the possible combination of roles, and the shifts in these professional roles. In their 2015 review study Dengerink et al. (2015) studied the professional roles of teacher educators and the characterization of these roles. They included empirical studies published until 2011. This research grew out of a need to reexamine the changing roles of teacher educators and to contribute to an evolving understanding of teacher education in a world in transition. Our main research question was: What are the roles of teacher educators in their current practice in five cross-national contexts (the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Scotland and the US)? What new professional roles do teacher educators identify as relevant for their practice? Based on the work of Dengerink et al (2015) we developed a semi-structured survey. The quality of the survey was extensively discussed among the 5 researchers and piloted in each national context. Ethical approval for the survey was granted by NTNU, Norway. The survey was spread to higher education based and school-based teacher educators in five different national contexts, resulting in an overall response of over 500. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to come to results. Main findings show a considerable diversity in combination of roles. First, all teacher educators indicated that they performed multiple roles in their current work practice. Second, there were differences between institute-based and school-based teacher educators, with the first performing more diverse roles than the second. Third, there were significant differences between countries, one important difference related to the professional role of researcher which was most prominent in Norway and least prominent in the Netherlands. Finally, based on the open questions, we found a large variety of roles including teacher educators indicating that increasingly they play a role in induction and professional development of in-service teachers. In our discussion we focus on future research we aim to perform and implications of this study for the professional development of teacher educators.

Dengerink, J., Lunenberg, M., & Korthagen, F. (2015). The professional teacher educator: Six roles. Beiträge zur Lehrerinnen-und Lehrerbildung, 33(3), 334-344. Flores, M. A. (2023). Teacher education in times of crisis: enhancing or deprofessionalising the teaching profession?. European Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 199-202. Van der Klink, M., Kools, Q., Avissar, G., White, S., & Sakata, T. (2017). Professional development of teacher educators: What do they do? Findings from an explorative international study. Professional development in education, 43(2), 163-178. White, S., 2019. Teacher educators for new times? Redefining an important occupational group. Journal of Education for Teaching, 45(2), 200-213.