Reflections on the craftsmanship of teaching: Lesson/learning studies as a cooperative means to enhance professionalism

Abstract

Purpose

A collection of outstanding works has recently been published in Spain entitled Lesson Study: Cooperative Research to Train Teachers and Recreate the Curriculum, edited by Professors Ángel I. Pérez Gómez and Encarnación Soto Gómez (2015) in the RIFOP review 2015. To the author’s knowledge this is the first attempt to report works in the Spanish language on lesson/learning studies (LSs) by a noteworthy collection of authors. The purpose of this paper is to review the above.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper takes the form of a literature review and discusses key themes emerging from the reviewed work.

Findings

This special issue provides an excellent occasion to reflect on several aspects related to LSs from a point of view related to the Spanish context. The paper explores three sections. The first one tackles where to focus the reflection and the methodology for boosting teaching professionalism. The second section wonders how appropriate it is to allude to a new craftsmanship in teaching. This question – far from a deterministic position – is developed considering both, the current constraints for enhancing professionalism in many national contexts and how empowering being engaged in processes of cooperative reflection is. Along these sections some inputs coming from the Spanish contributions are compared with similar conceptual positions in the LS literature.

Originality/value

As well as summarizing reflections on the work in some final conclusions, this paper includes a brief piece analyzing the contributions of the Spanish LS network.

Citation

Rué, J. (2016), "Reflections on the craftsmanship of teaching: Lesson/learning studies as a cooperative means to enhance professionalism", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 348-361. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-07-2016-0019