Purpose This study aims to depict how a change laboratory (CL) promotes sustainable professional practice at the workplace to tackle unequal access to educational success.

Design/methodology/approach The empirical findings are from a CL focusing on school professionals’ agency and a follow-up study one year after the CL.

Findings The study shows how the staff gained insight that professional agency is a collective and relational practice. Furthermore, the staff explored how to make a difference with viable means to create new workplace models for students’ success despite experiencing a conundrum.

Research limitations/implications This study examined participants’ perspectives in workplace change and provided support for further research examining how professionally and collectively designed models gain sustainability in schools.

Practical implications This study provides empirical data of how professional agency for change driven by collective visions can be accelerated with the interventionist method CL among school professionals.

Social implications This study emphasizes the value of professional collective learning at the workplace, driven by several professional groups in school, and the need to follow up to detect sustainable change.

Originality/value This study emphasizes the value of professional collective learning at the workplace, driven by several professional groups in school, and the need to follow up to detect sustainable change.