The desirability of teacher engagement with research has been made apparent by several recent secretaries of state and encouraged through legislation and some support mechanisms intended to encourage practitioner-led investigations. Yet it is still regarded as exceptional, rather than the norm, when teachers become involved in formal research processes. In this article Amanda Watkins examines the factors which might encourage teachers to become more involved in research, discussing their motivations, the support required and the advantages which they perceive as emanating from classroom inquiry. Having conducted her own classroom-based research she suggests that there is a clear case for promoting practitioner inquiry, but that there remains a need to examine the conditions which must be created in order to move this agenda forward.