Abstract
This overview chapter considers teacher education and ODL separately and then in combination, examining their synergies and divergences. The focus, context and politicised character of each domain are discussed, as is their diversity across individuals, institutions, nations and regions, and also the links between each domain and wider debates about such issues as access, development, equity, social justice and transformation. The discussion provides a framework for the chapters that follow. Policy-makers, practitioners and researchers who use ODL in teacher education to develop large numbers of capable and proficient teachers will need to engage with the types of themes canvassed in the current research reviewed here.