This article presents the literature review of 57 articles published between 2000 and 2014, which developed action research experiences in primary and secondary classrooms in Ibero-America. The paper analyzes the purpose of action research, the themes, the researcher's position, their contributions and limitations. Results reveal that action research aims to improve and transform the practice in curricular areas, which are not always evaluated by educational systems. The teacher is a participant, not a protagonist (teacher - researcher or co-researcher) or author of the research about his own practice.