Action research concerns action, and transforming people's practices (as well as their understandings of their practices and the conditions under which they practise). Sometimes we may feel that action research works best when it contributes to our understandings. In this paper, by contrast, I want to explore the "happening-ness" of action and…

Action research changes people's practices, their understandings of their practices, and the conditions under which they practice. It changes people's patterns of "saying", "doing" and "relating" to form new patterns--new ways of life. It is a meta-practice: a practice that changes other practices. It transforms the sayings, doings and relating…

Some action research today lacks a critical edge. This article identifies five inadequate forms of action research, and argues that action research must be capable of "telling unwelcome truths" against schooling in the interests of education. It reasserts a connection between education and emancipatory ideals that allow educators to address…

In this article, the two authors of "Becoming Critical: education, knowledge and action research" look back at the book's history since its publication 20 years ago. We describe how the book was originally written, and the diverse responses and reactions that it has produced. We identify some of the book's inadequacies and limitations, and…