Paper three reports on a study of 28 literacy/English teacher educators from the United States, Canada, England and Australia. Participants were interviewed regarding their backgrounds, views on literacy teaching/learning, experiences of reforms, research activities and identity. The project made strategic use of a grounded theory approach generated theory grounded in and from the data. Across all countries these teacher educators were struggling to keep pace with the sheer number of government initiatives in literacy education. Most relied on their ‘teacher networks’ to keep them appraised and to access materials. Many grappled with the narrow direction of these initiatives because they were not consistent with their views or research on literacy. The newest teacher educators wondered to what extent they should critique the government, while those who were more experienced, having lived through many national curricula, felt they should help student teachers to develop a critical approach to literacy teaching. The study demonstrates and conceptualises relationships between nodes e.g. current government initiatives and/or their influence on educator practices; maintaining identity as a teacher and previous experience as a classroom teacher; and the nature of educators’ research in schools when the intended audiences for that research are teachers, policymakers and researchers.