In line with teaching standards requiring teachers to evidence research capacities, this paper explores responses to a professional learning programme designed in partnership by an educational authority and a university. Intended to enable practising teachers to develop research capacities and complete postgraduate qualifications, the professional learning programme featured collaboration, distributed leadership and participatory action research. Focusing on the experiences and responses of teachers participating in the collaborative project, data collected through teacher interviews, focus groups, researcher observations and teacher-and-student documentation were analysed. Findings indicate that a collaborative practice-based approach to professional learning and postgraduate studies developed teacher appetite for, appreciation of and emerging capacities in both empirical and conceptual research including defining a research question; reviewing literature; conducting an action research project; engaging with evidence; criticality; and reporting on findings. Enabling conditions of and limitations to the development of research-based capacities are explored.