Impact of Virtual Exchange on teachers’ and student teachers’ sense of isolation

Professional isolation caused by lack of networking and collaboration opportunities with other colleagues and experts is regarded as one of the main challenges to sustaining teachers’ motivation and enriching their professional experience (Echazarra & Radinger, 2019; OECD, 2016). One of the aims of the VALIANT project was to identify whether Virtual Innovation and Support Networks as an approach would contribute to overcoming teachers’ and student teachers’ sense of isolation and low motivation in rural areas and other isolated contexts while promoting teachers’ and student teachers’ effectiveness in online international networks of professional collaboration. Drawing from data gathered from the 24 Virtual Exchanges (VEs) carried out in the VALIANT project, this chapter will present the coding framework, results of the quantitative and qualitative data analysis, and key findings regarding the impact of VE on teachers’ and student teachers’ self- perceived sense of isolation.