115 The Meaning and Role of Action Research in Education Enala S. Lufungulo , Robinson Mambwe and Bibian Kalinde The University of Zambia AbstrAct Action research in education is known for improving the teachers and administrators’ professional practice and deemed favourable by most educationists for solving problems in education. It is a formative study usually conducted by teachers and administrators in schools. Action research is a cyclical or spiral process that includes problem identifcation (by a teacher, a group of teachers or administrators) taking action and fact fnding about the result of the action taken. Action research in education helps the teachers to adopt or craft the most appropriate strategies within teaching-learning environments. Teachers around the world employ action research in their classrooms and schools, as part of their teaching and research. In this article we discuss action research in education, show the differences between action research and traditional research and we have illustrated forms of action research in education. The paper has also made an attempt at describing the steps in action research. In the concluding section we have discussed the importance of action research to the teacher and all involved in education. All in all, we will labour to present a literature review of what action research is, its elements and the critical role it plays in perfecting the art of teaching. Keywords: Action research, Education, Teacher INTRODUCTION Teaching as a craft is both a science and an art. Therefore, for teaching to produce the desired results, teachers ought to always experiment and try out new ways of engaging in their teaching-learning practices. Action research is one of the research methodologies teachers can use to investigate a particular issue within the school because it directly involves the teachers' participation in solving the problems they experience during their teaching-learning processes. According to (Johnson, 2012; Koshy, 2005), action research is particularly applicable for teachers and administrators in education because they are the ones directly involved and interested in solving problems associated with the education system. Action research is especially encouraged for teachers because they can identify, solve and refect on the solutions within their comfort zones the classroom. Lesha (2014 p. 379.) notes that action research is suitable for any person who wishes to improve his or her performance, or a group or organisation who wish to do the same. Given the dynamism of teaching and learning settings, what may be considered as the improved practice may still demand continuous redress thus, making action research one of the best ways’ teachers can use to address problems