The Primary English Reading Project, supported by the Hong Kong Government’s Language Fund, is a four year longitudinal project that aims to develop innovative reading programmes in primary schools in Hong Kong. The Project has adopted a collaborative approach to curriculum and teacher development in an attempt to create and put into practice a shared vision of how reading instruction can best support pupils’ reading in English. This paper will describe the strategies and processes that are being employed by the researchers and teachers as they strive to bring innovative change to teaching and learning processes within the classroom. Using data gathered through a questionnaire on teachers’ beliefs and practices in the teaching of reading, the writers illustrate the ways in which a collaborative approach to teacher development has influenced teachers’ and researchers’ understandings and actual practice in the classroom. The implications of employing collaborative approaches to teacher development as a means of translating vision into reality are discussed.