Beatrice Ávalos, a Chilean national, holds a Ph.D. from St. Louis University, USA and is an associate researcher at the Centre for Advanced Research in Education, University of Chile, where she leads a research group on teacher related topics. She was awarded the 2013 National Prize in Educational Sciences by the Chilean government. Between 2007 and 2010 she co-ordinated the Chilean application of the IEA TEDS-M study at the Ministry of Education. Formerly, she was Senior Lecturer at University of Wales, Cardiff and Professor of Education at the University of Papua New Guinea, and more recently has participated in the Latin American UNESCO review of teacher policies. She has carried out consultancy work for several international organisations including The World Bank, UNESCO/OREALC, the Academy for Educational Development as well as on request of countries in Uruguay and Bolivia. She has published extensively on themes related to teachers, teacher education, policy and educational development both in Spanish and English. She has also contributed with articles to several International Handbooks on Leadership, Educational Change, School Improvement, Continuing Professional Development of Teachers and the International Handbook of Teacher Education.