This article reports on both writers' experiences as participants in a collaborative action research project in Hong Kong. The article draws a distinction between teachers as research consumers and teachers as research producers. The authors suggest that active teacher agency in research is a positive element in the professional development of English teachers. Teachers primarily become research producers through involvement in some form of action research project. Although action research is increasingly recognized as a teacher competency in Hong Kong, it is nevertheless difficult for teachers to initiate and conduct when research is not seen as a core professional activity by their school with subsequent limited support. The authors view collaboration with professional researchers as a positive way for teachers to be apprenticed into the research process. The article ends by suggesting possible strategies that would support and encourage teachers to undertake research.
[Copyright of English Teaching: Practice & Critique is the property of Universidad del Zulia.
Access via Directory of Open Access Journals: http://edlinked.soe.waikato.ac.nz/research/journal/index.php?id=1]

The qualitative educational research literature is increasingly advocating the use of literary/artistic techniques. This article describes and evaluates educational action researches by three art teachers, and questions why they have not capitalised methodologically on their artistic expertise. Analysis of commonalities in practitioner-based research in education and practice-based research in art and design reveals significant differences in these two paradigms however. Whereas artists and educational researchers both engage in qualitative problem solving and may use the same kinds of materials and tools, they develop different kinds of hypotheses, look for different sorts of evidence and apply different quality controls.
[Copyright of Educational Action Research is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09650790500200305 ]

This paper describes a collaborative journey with a group of primary school teachers and principals within a context of curriculum change in Hong Kong. This collaboration, which builds on hope, trust, reflections and authenticity, elicits participants' 'voices' through narratives and conversations. An Action Research as iterative, critical and collaborative engages research participants to a research world which celebrates the success of change by improvement, the collaboration by mutual contribution to shared values and beliefs, and the reconstruction of curriculum work by ongoing critique and transformation. Teachers' stories, which are the constructs of their personal lives intertwined with professional lives, are embodied of participants' critical reflections on the place, space, purpose, content and process of teacher curriculum decision-making at the time of curriculum change. Through sharing and negotiation, ownership and participation as well as agreement and consensus, this action research empowers participants to act and talk in reflection about curriculum work for enhancing the effectiveness of teaching and learning. Reflecting on this collaborative research journey, the paper further poses a question when choosing to choose educational research. This question challenges researchers and other stakeholders to critically reflect on educational research whether it is moving towards an optimistic future or a dead end.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]