A response to Peter Posch's comments on the paper "Learning to learn from teaching: a first-hand account of lesson study in Japan" (IJLLS, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 170-191)

Citation

Ermeling, B. and Graff-Ermeling, G. (2014), "A response to Peter Posch's comments on the paper "Learning to learn from teaching: a first-hand account of lesson study in Japan" (IJLLS, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 170-191)", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 3 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-08-2014-0022

A response to Peter Posch's comments on the paper “Learning to learn from teaching: a first-hand account of lesson study in Japan” (IJLLS, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 170-191)

Article Type: Discussion From: International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Volume 3, Issue 3.

We appreciate Peter Posch's insightful comments on our first-hand account of lesson study in Japan and his observations regarding the implications and challenges the study presents for European countries as well as the USA. One reason these challenges are daunting is that the power of lesson study practices are often disguised by seemingly familiar terminology. In the USA, for example, “collaboration” and “classroom observation” are popular terms. In practice, however, collaboration is little more than a weekly setting for covering school business, sharing ideas, or reviewing assessments; and observations are almost exclusively conducted by principals for purposes of evaluation. The USA is also a long way from treating lessons as “laboratories for observation and collective inquiry” or engaging in “joint ownership of instructional improvement.” This is one reason to continue documenting and publishing detailed accounts of alternative images of practice. As Gallimore and Stigler (2003) put it: “Seeing that something can be completely different is one of the most effective ways of opening eyes to the ubiquity of cultural practices and creating the circumstances for change” (p. 27). It doesn’t eliminate the challenge, but it starts the right conversation.

Bradley A. Ermeling and Genevieve Graff-Ermeling

Reference

Gallimore, R. and Stigler, J. (2003), “Closing the teaching gap: assisting teachers to adapt to change”, in Richardson, C. (Ed.), Whither Assessment, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, London, pp. 25-36