Curriculum aims often remain unrealised aspirations. This is because the values and principles implicit in them fail to get articulated in forms that can effectively inform and guide the practice of teaching. Ideas such as "learner-centred education", "independent/autonomous learning", "self-directed learning",…

This article focuses on the problems, dilemmas, and issues which confront facilitators of teacher-based action research in schools. Three action research projects in the United Kingdom are described. An attempt is made to clarify the theoretical and philosophical assumptions which underpin the action research movement in education. (IAH)