This article tells the story of an attempt to bring about major educational reform of the curriculum and educational values in Kazakhstan, using action research as part of that process. The article begins with a brief and selective review of the literature on aspects of emotion and moves to an account of the context and history of the reforms, before focusing on the "self experience" of the participants and the authors. Emotion, its centrality and the interrelationship of three areas--the nature of teaching and teacher learning, the process of change and the experience of research--are explored in relation to reform and action research. The paper concludes with a reflection on the implications for the use of action research as a strategy for reform.