This paper explores the deliberative use of action research as a strategy for reform in teacher development, which is central to changes in curriculum, pedagogy and learning (Altrichter and Posch 2013; Elliott and Norris 2012). The study is of teachers in schools of innovation in Kazakhstan and is over a period of two years. The post-Soviet tradition has within it particular views of teacher agency and professionalism (see McLaughlin et al. 2014). This paper examines how these shifted and developed during the two-year period. It draws on data from a two-year evaluation of the teachers and their practice as well as on case studies of teachers and practices during this period. Teachers were interviewed and the travel of practice was also examined. The central argument is that change from the inside is necessary in two senses: in terms of starting on the inside of schools with teachers, rather than with the transplantation of a well-honed practice into a school; and that starting with the development of the inner world of teachers’ sense of agency and development is also necessary for real change to happen.