This article is concerned to respond to recent UK governments' attitudes to teachers, who are predominantly women, and who are denied a voice and sense of professionalism. It looks to the role of teacher research in school decision-making, including school improvement, historically in England, which set a pioneering example in years before the Thatcher government, and in Australia, where it became a central logistical feature in generations of "poverty programs", as well as the current conjuncture. It documents recent efforts to build school-university partnerships for school improvement geared to support teachers' knowledge-building about working with disadvantaged pupils who are disengaged and under-achieving. It maps the educational political context, framed by the global neo-liberal policy agenda, and charts efforts to support school staff develop a research perspective on the complexities of schools' work in a system geared to a relentless focus on attainment targets, performance, and school league tables. It develops a responsive theoretical-strategic framework for a local north of England "knowledge-building programme" of continuing professional development (CPD) with optional accreditation, intended to counter the system's lack of a broad and creative pedagogical "imaginary". The resultant project is inspired by a democratic impulse and progressive social justice goals to facilitate learning about what this Leeds network of schools needs to be doing itself to address issues of concern about pupils marked by poverty and deprivation.