Lesson study and Learning Study: Issues in methodology and methods

This symposium will include three presentations reporting on research for lesson study and learning study. It will also review some challenges for research and practice in this field and a discussion of these challenges and research opportunities will follow.

Lunch will be available from 12.30 in room M11; Symposium in room 139

Please register online if you wish to attend 

Programme

1.15 - 1.45 Lesson Study – Developing Contextual Variants with Phil Wood, from the School of Education, University of Leicester

As the use of lesson study has spread across the globe, there has been a tendency in some quarters to claim an ‘archetypal’ Japanese approach which must be adhered to. However, in this short presentation I claim that the philosophy and utility of lesson study can be realised through contextual developments which move away from a false perception of  a unified notion of Japanese lesson study. Here, I consider the development of participatory and distance learning lesson study variants which both give important insights for sense-making in HE contexts.    

1.45 - 2.15 Problematizing lesson study and its impacts: Studying a highly contextualised approach to professional learning with Mark Hadfield, Cardiff University and Michael Jopling from Northumbria University

Researching the efficacy of lesson study has been complicated by the manner in which it has been reinterpreted in different settings and contexts. Drawing on research into a national school improvement programme in England, this paper looks at how various reconfigurations of lesson study were affected by the different collaborative arrangements among schools and practitioners in the programme. Utilising a mixed methods approach, the paper provides and problematizes new empirical evidence concerning the effectiveness of lesson study. It concludes with a consideration of how those researching lesson study initiatives would benefit from adopting a more critical contextual analysis.

2.45 - 3.00 Coffee and Tea break 

3.00 - 3.30 Teachers’ Understanding of Learning Study – Variation and Implications with Guy Durden from the Institute of Education, University College, London and Peter Davies from the University of Birmingham

This study examines an approach to teacher development through understanding students’ learning. In particular it examines variation in teachers’ understanding of their experience of Learning Study and the implications of this understanding for the future practice. .  By identifying critical features in different conceptions of Learning Study it aims to provide a basis for more effective ways of introducing teachers to Learning Study. The study uses qualitative data from in-depth interviews with teachers in the UK who have experienced Learning Study.  

3.30 – 4.15 Discussion of research challenges and opportunities

4.15 Close