ORIGINAL PAPER The Concerns-Based Adoption Model: Teachers’ Participation in Action Research B. Khoboli • John M. O’toole Published online: 1 November 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract This article views a particular example of action research through the theo- retical lens provided by the Concerns Based Adoption Model of professional development. A small group of teachers in Lesotho, used action research to investigate their under- standing and practice in the midst of externally initiated change. Data was collected from teachers’ discussions during the 2 years of the project. Teachers interacted during planning sessions; lesson observations and reflection meetings. Results indicated that these teachers’ development and change through action research corresponded with the seven levels of the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) which are awareness, information, personal concerns, management, consequences, collaboration and refocusing. The demonstrated resonance between CBAM and action research is significant, given the differing orienta- tions of the two models. There is a need however to conduct further studies with larger samples and possibly from diverse areas to further explore the relationship between the Concerns-Based Adoption Model and action research. Keywords Action research Á Concerns-based adoption model Á Teacher change Á Policy implementation Introduction Lesotho is a landlocked country in southern Africa, which has the advantages of a man- ageable population and a well developed schooling system. These characteristics make Lesotho a useful ‘natural laboratory’ for the exploration of educational issues whose B. Khoboli (&) Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein, South Africa e-mail: bkhoboli@cut.ac.za J. M. O’toole University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia e-mail: Mitch.OToole@newcastle.edu.au 123 Syst Pract Action Res (2012) 25:137–148 DOI 10.1007/s11213-011-9214-8