Teacher perspectives about lesson study in secondary school departments: a collaborative vehicle for professional learning and practice development

Abstract

Abstract:Two departments in a secondary school in England participated in 'lesson study' projects over a five-month period to explore its usefulness as a vehicle for professional development. Through a cycle of two research lessons, conducted separately in each department, teachers identified challenges that inhibited the learning of their students and collaboratively prepared innovative approaches to address the learning challenges. The process yielded multiple sets of data: DVD-recorded lessons, lesson plans and resources, transcripts of preparation and evaluation meetings and individual interviews at the end of the project. This paper draws principally on detailed qualitative analysis of end-of-project interviews about teacher experiences of learning and practice development in the two contexts. While the teachers encountered some logistical challenges to the implementation of lesson study, a number of important gains were reported: collaboration in lesson study reduced feelings of professional isolation; teachers reported a sharper focus on pupil learning and more confidence to take risks with approaches to teaching, which led to greater opportunities for pupils to engage in interactive activities, for example involving problem-solving and peer teaching in groups.Keywords: secondary school, lesson study, collaboration, observation of learning, teacher development IntroductionThe purpose of lesson study is improvement in the quality of teaching through a 'reflexive, recursive and collaborative' process (Dudley 2011, 5). Translated from the term 'kenkyu jugyou' meaning lesson study, the process originates from Japan where it has been widely used since the 1950s (Abiko 2011). A lesson study cycle involves small groups of teachers collaboratively planning a 'research lesson' that is taught by one member of the group while the others observe one or two 'case' pupils (Dudley 2011). The lesson is then evaluated in light of the reflections of the teacher and the insights of those who observed their respective case pupils. Subsequently, the lesson may be revised for further teaching with other classes (Hiebert and Stigler 2000). What distinguishes this from other forms of professional development is the planning of jointly conceived research lessons to address particular problems with learning, rather than focusing on the performance of an individual teacher.The process requires an investment of time and patience: 'Lesson study is a process of improvement that is expected to produce small, incremental improvements in teaching over long periods of time ' (Stigler and Hiebert 1999, 121). Consequently, it may not be attractive 2 in school systems that are hungry for quick-fix impacts, for example on examination results. Despite this, its use is growing and ever larger numbers of research investigations have explored its effectiveness in different contexts (Lewis, Perry and Murata 2006;Fernandez 2002;Fernandez, Cannon and Chokshi 2003;Lawrence and Chong 2010;Dudley , 2013). According to Lewis (2004, 19), teachers in Japa...

Lesson Study in Initial Teacher Education to Stimulate the Pedagogical Content Knowledge on the topic of Speed of Sound

“…According to the pre-service teachers, the ethos of the sessions was pleasant and motivating and they felt they were active members of the group. These findings are in line with those obtained by Cajkler et al (2015) with regard to a Lesson Study with beginning teachers and teachers of mathematics and modern languages, in which the participants also developed a sense of belonging to a professional community.…”

The Effect of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) Based on Lesson Study on the Biology Learning Achievement of High School Students

“…Contextual Teaching and Learning model based on Lesson Study can also help students become easier in understanding the learning indicated by the increased learning outcomes in the cognitive domain (Fadillah et al, 2017). Lesson Study is able to develop the knowledge, abilities and professionalism of the teacher (Akiba, 2016;Cajkler, 2015)…”

Strategies for establishing networking with partner schools for implementing lesson study in Indonesia

“…In WALS International Conference 2016 in Exeter University-London at least 35 countries have called in for participation (Nurwidodo, 2016). Many countries in their attempt to transfer the Japanese model have developed their own perspectives on lesson study based on indigenous school cultures, educational context, and needs (Arani, Fukaya, & Lassegard, 2010;Cajkler, Wood, Norton, Pedder, & Xu, 2015).…”