In this article I examine the role of close to practice research (CtP) in practitioner, school and system development, arguing that CtP can enhance improvement across these three levels. I believe that problematising practice is vital if it is to be understood well enough to be changed for the better. Only through processes of problematisation – making the familiar strange and the over-familiar visible – can the enduring grip of present practice- knowledge be loosened enough to make change possible. This is because ‘practice’ itself becomes a problem once the blend of behaviours, processes and judgements from which it formed become second nature – invisible and resistant to conscious recall.