Knowledge management strategies for sustaining Lesson Study

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is explore the relative effectiveness of people-based and information technology-based knowledge management (KM) strategies as implemented by principals in Hong Kong schools to facilitate and sustain Lesson Study for teachers’ knowledge sharing and internalization.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 184 principals in Hong Kong were collected by a cross-sectional quantitative survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and reliability tests have been used to examine the constructed validity and reliability of the instrument. A structural equation model was applied to confirm the predictive effect of people-based and information technology-based KM strategies on teachers’ knowledge sharing and internalization through Lesson Study.

Findings

Results show that people-based KM strategy predicts knowledge sharing and internalization by and among teachers. However, while information technology-based knowledge management strategies predict teachers’ knowledge sharing, they do not predict how effectively they internalize knowledge.

Practical implications

Cultivating communities of practice, professional learning communities and mentoring schemes in schools can nurture a knowledge-sharing culture to facilitate and sustain Lesson Study for teacher learning. Institutionalizing an information technology system can help teachers to retrieve, share and store the school’s explicit knowledge.

Originality/value

The paper not only suggests school management strategies and practices for school leaders to facilitate and sustain Lesson Study, but also brings a new research dimension, KM, to the research area.

Citation

Cheng, E.C.K. (2020), "Knowledge management strategies for sustaining Lesson Study", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 167-178. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-10-2019-0070