This paper will report on the theoretical underpinning guiding the system wide in-service education for teachers which has been developed in collaboration with the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education and expert colleagues in Astana at the request of the government of Kazakhstan. The overall aim of the Centres of Excellence programme was to work alongside trainers who are expert teachers and lecturers so that these experts could subsequently develop the learning and expertise of teachers in the public school system. The ultimate goal of the programme is to prepare the young people of Kazakhstan to become critical independent learners who will be able to flourish in the 21st century. The paper will present our emerging findings of changes in attitudes, behaviour and understanding of trainers, teachers and students involved in the programme using multiple methods. We use survey data from 300 trainers, follow up surveys with 9,000 teachers and classroom based data collected through field work. Our analysis focuses on changes in both instrumental and conceptual understanding. We also present case studies of emerging evidence to illustrate how the programme has the potential to build capacity within the system.