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Research and practice are often seen as separate entities, however, the notion of teacher as researcher situates the act of teaching as research (Watanabe, 2018). Educators in Japan identify as researchers with contributions to make to the field. Lesson study is one vehicle for their research. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether educators outside Japan are sharing their work resulting from lesson study to impact the field beyond their local context.

Databases were searched to find cases (n=45) of lesson study in K-12 mathematics classrooms in the USA. Descriptions of how lesson study was implemented were coded to determine whether sharing of findings was a part of the lesson study cycle and, if so, to identify the mechanisms for sharing.

In 12 of the 45 cases, there was evidence that the lesson study team shared their findings beyond the team. The modes of sharing included inviting people to the research lesson, distributing the research lesson, presenting at conferences or writing articles.

The cases are limited to published lesson study projects. The end of the lesson study cycle for teams not sharing was not evaluated.

Ways to make sharing results more accessible are discussed.

The originality of this paper is in that it evaluates a large number of documented cases of lesson study to understand if and how teachers are making their professional knowledge gained through lesson study public.

Japanese lesson study (LS) is a professional development approach in which teachers collaboratively plan a lesson, observe it being taught and then discuss what they have learnt. LS’s global spread is increasing but studies have identified several challenges to its implementation: the lack of structures and systems to accommodate LS (especially time); the focus on demonstrating short-term impact; a lack of teacher research skills; a dearth of access to quality learning and research material; the absence of available koshis; and accountability pressures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the “translation” of Japanese LS through a case study of one English secondary school.

This study is a case study of a single school which has been using LS as an approach to professional development for five years. A documentary analysis of the school’s LS Handbook sought to understand the school’s approach to LS as articulated by senior leadership. Six observations of the schools LS processes were then carried out including planning, research lessons and post-lesson discussions. Finally, one senior leader who had led LS implementation and five teachers who had been working in the school during the implementation stage were interviewed. The findings are analysed against Seleznyov’s (2018) seven critical components of Japanese LS.

Several key deviations from Japanese LS are identified including: a lack of whole school theme studied over time; little kyozai kenkyu and no written lesson planning; teachers deviating from the role of observers in research lessons; no facilitator and little use of discussion protocols; no koshi; and struggles to ensure mobilisation of knowledge between LS groups. Several of these represent gaps between the school’s LS policy and practices. The findings show that LS practices have become diluted over time and that giving teachers choices seems to have led to teachers not adhering to important aspects of the LS policy.

One of the limitations of the research is its focus on the perceptions of a small group of teachers who were likely to be more passionate about LS than others, and perhaps a deeper understanding of the challenges to implementation might be enabled by interviewing a wider range of engaged teachers, especially those who are perceived as “resisting” full engagement. Further research might also explore whether the implementation challenges faced by this school are replicated in other English schools and in other countries using LS as an approach to professional development.

Several implications for English school leaders seeking to implement LS are discussed, including the need to articulate the rationale for the protocols that shape LS, especially for staff new to the school and to check that important protocols are adhered to over time.

Whilst several studies of LS in the UK have explored its impact on teachers and pupils, and the challenges and successes of introducing LS into a UK context, this study provides a different perspective. It explores the challenges of using LS over time as a consistent approach to professional development in a school and seeks to understand how both resistance and dilution can affect its impact on practice.

This study aimed to examine the influence of four factors (intellectual, instrumental, self-actualizing and CPD cultural factors) on teachers' engagement in continuing professional development (CPD), specifically in the context of three lesson study activities: teaching research team activity, teaching research group activity and research lesson study activity in Chinese school settings.

A mixed-methods design was employed to examine the perceived effects of these factors on the engagement levels of 33 primary school teachers who participated in lesson study activities. The research used a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews as data collection instruments.

The results indicated that participants demonstrated higher levels of engagement in research lesson study and teaching research group, whereas their engagement in teaching research team was comparatively lower. Intellectual and CPD cultural factors emerged as the strongest predictors of engagement in all the activities. Self-actualizing factors highly influenced teachers' engagement in research lesson study. Instrumental factors mainly affected novice teachers and some mentors in the teaching research group, but not others.

This study addresses a gap in the existing literature by investigating factors influencing teachers' engagement in lesson study professional development. The observed variation in teachers' engagement behaviors and attitudes provides policy makers and school leaders with a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms and effects of these engagement factors on teachers' professional development.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and delivery of a lesson study unit in mathematics to pre-service primary teachers and to identify the opportunities and challenges resulting from the need to deliver the unit wholly online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cross-case analysis, using a before-and-after design, was used to compare the development and delivery of the unit in 2019 and 2020, with the pivotal event of interest between the before-and-after cases being the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The content and structure of the unit, as well as its collaborative aspects, remained substantially the same in the before-and-after cases. While there was a low level of engagement with pre-recorded lectures, there was a high level of engagement and participation in the online synchronous seminars, together with a marked increase in overall satisfaction with the unit. Pre-service teachers were unable to teach and observe one another's planned research lessons in school. Instead, after a detailed examination of the task, the lesson plan and student solutions, they observed a pre-recorded video of a research lesson at a local school and participated in a streamed post-lesson discussion. Pre-service teachers regarded this new component as a highlight of the unit and an important connection between the theory and practice of lesson study.

The inclusion of the video-recorded research lesson in 2020 introduced a new level of authenticity for pre-service teachers, allowing them to observe a high quality structured problem solving mathematics lesson taught in a local public school, as part of a local implementation of lesson study-something that is not generally possible. While there is often a view that the benefits of lesson study result mainly from collaborative planning and teaching of the research lesson, this paper highlights the value of involvement for all participants in research lesson observation and post-lesson discussion, as well as the opportunities afforded by the use of “virtual lesson study”.

The purpose of this paper is to understand what physics and chemistry preservice teachers learn on the nature of the inquiry tasks and about classroom communication in an inquiry task when they take part in a lesson study.

This is a qualitative and interpretive research which was carried out within a master’s degree course in physics and chemistry teaching with three preservice teachers. Data were collected from participant observation with video recording, interviews, written reflections and group report by the preservice teachers. This two-cycle lesson study was conducted over 12 sessions. The data analysis took place through asking questions and using the constant comparison method, which allowed the identification of the most relevant issues about the preservice teachers learning according to the categories nature of the inquiry tasks and communication promoted by the teacher.

The results show that the preservice teachers learnt to identify the characteristics of inquiry tasks, how to develop an inquiry task when planning the research lesson and acknowledged its potential for student learning. Moreover, the preservice teachers acknowledged the fact that the classroom communication promoted by the teacher fostered student participation, negotiation of meanings about scientific concepts and construction of new learning that can be shared within the class.

Research is needed as regards how initial teacher education providers may contribute to the learning of preservice teachers in lesson study in initial teacher education programmes.

This research contributes to show potentialities of lesson study in the initial teacher education of preservice physics and chemistry teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to briefly describe the role of lesson study in implementation of national curriculum reforms in Japan, identifying key features that may be of interest to policy-makers in other countries.

Literature review, observation, and artefact collection were used to study the role of lesson study in educational reform in Japan.

One key characteristic of implementation of national curricular reforms in Japan is that lesson study allows primary and secondary schools, universities, district and prefectural offices, and subject-matter associations to collaborate in implementation. Some key features of the lesson study-supported system of implementation of curricular reform in Japan includes: the ability of school-based lesson study groups to leverage regional and national subject-matter expertise; school learning routines that enable systematic study, refinement, and dissemination of practice (e.g. kyouzai kenkyuu, public research lessons, grade-level collaboration); and policy structures that support implementation (e.g. grants for designated research schools, a period to try out new standards before they are required by law).

While some features of lesson study transfer readily from Japan to other countries (such as the usefulness of curriculum study, live lessons, and interchange with more experienced teachers), comprehensive systems for using lesson study to support curricular reform are yet to develop outside Japan. This paper identifies the policy, cultural, and infrastructural elements of the Japanese system that allow lesson study to effectively support implementation of new curriculum.

Successful implementation of curricular reform at the classroom level is a persistent difficulty in many countries. Japan's system illustrates how the strengths of teacher leadership and research-based content can be joined to support curriculum implementation, through interlocking systems of lesson study.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the challenges involved in introducing Lesson Study (LS) into teacher education in Malawi by studying mathematics teacher educators’ (TEs’) understanding of planning for LS.

This study is a part of a wider ongoing project designed to improve the quality and capacity of mathematics teacher education in Malawi. One of its components is professional development of all mathematics TEs in Malawi using an LS model. The units being analyzed comprise of the TEs’ written lesson plans and qualitative content analysis is the chosen analytical approach.

Based on the analyzed research lesson plans, the TEs have difficulty in focusing on their own learning parallel to the student teachers’ (STs’) learning, and struggle with predicting STs’ responses to tasks. In addition, there is a pervasive lack of emphasis on planned and focused observation of STs’ learning, as evidenced by a review of the research lesson plans.

This is a small-scale study due to LS being introduced to Malawi teacher education for the first time and the need to test before possible upscaling.

The paper includes a description of mathematics TEs’ understanding of LS in an African context, which can be a valuable information for TEs who are attempting to use LS.

This paper fulfills an identified need to learn more about TEs’ understanding of LS worldwide.

This chapter aims to give a general overview of the history and philosophy of lesson study together with a general outline of a typical lesson study cycle. It also aims to address the use of lesson study as a useful tool in the professional development of both pre- and in-service teachers. Finally, it will look at possibilities of using lesson study as the basis of a new partnership agreement between higher education institutions and schools which will benefit all parties.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the coaching and mentoring supervision of the Lesson Study to enhance preservice mathematics teachers' research competencies.

The researcher employed a multi-case study design to describe the internship experiences of practicing coaching and mentoring supervision while preservice teachers engaged in Lesson Study. A total of six preservice teachers were the samples, and they were teaching six lessons. A classroom observation evaluation form was used to collect data from 60 observers, with a proportion of 10 observers to each sample to assess and provide feedback on the samples' research competencies. This was followed by 12 individual, semi-structured interviews using interview protocol. The participants included 60 Lesson Study group members and six mentors from the three research schools, together with the samples' internship advisors from Suratthani Rajabhat University, totaling to 72 assessors. Data were examined using the thematic analysis method.

The results of 60 observation evaluations revealed that coaching and mentoring supervision of Lesson Study can develop samples' research competencies in four capabilities, namely, instructional planning, classroom management, instructional delivery and professional development. The 12 interview results indicated that the six samples' research competencies were improved in these four aspects, namely, data collection and analysis, collaboration, reflection and pedagogical content knowledge.

Mentoring and coaching supervision of Lesson Study holds great potential for collaborative professional development and continuous improvement of mathematics teachers' research competencies.

This article suggests meaningful professional benefits of participation in mentoring and coaching supervision.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the popularity of Japanese lesson study (JLS) beyond Japan and the challenges this translation might pose. It notes that there is not a universally accepted definition of lesson study (LS) and seeks to identify the “critical components” of JLS through a review of the literature. It then uses a systematic literature review of recent studies of the implementation of LS with in-service teachers beyond Japan to analyse the models of LS used against these seven critical components in order to explore the degree of fidelity to the Japanese model.

A broad review of the literature on JLS available in the English language identifies seven “critical components”. A systematic literature review of 200 recent English language studies of the implementation of LS with in-service teachers beyond Japan is then carried out. Articles published between 2005 and 2015 are explored, including peer reviewed articles, scientific journals, book chapters and PhD dissertations. This systematic review enables an analysis of the models of LS used in studies from beyond Japan against the “seven critical components” of JLS.

The analysis shows that there is not an internationally shared understanding of Japanese lesson study (JLS) and that many of the missing components are those which distinguish LS as a research process, not simply a collaborative professional development approach. It also reveals that UK LS models seem particularly far from the Japanese model in those critical components which connect teachers’ knowledge and understanding within groups, to knowledge and understanding that exists beyond it. The study discusses whether these differences could be attributed to structural or cultural differences between Japan and other nations.

The search for descriptions of the JLS is limited to articles available in the English language, which, therefore, represent a quite limited body of authority on the “critical components” of LS. The systematic review is similarly limited to English language articles, and there is a clear bias towards the USA, with the Far East and the UK making up the majority of the remaining studies. The study suggests that future research on LS beyond Japan should consider teachers’ attitudes towards the research elements of the process as well as their skills and confidence in carrying out research into practice.

The study strikes a note of caution for schools wishing to implement JLS as an approach to teacher professional development in the UK and beyond. Japan’s systemic approach has embedded LS experience and expertise into the education system, meaning a uniform approach to LS is much more likely. In addition, other systemic challenges may arise, for example, UK professional development time and resources is not designed with JLS in mind and may therefore require a significant reworking.

Whilst several systematic reviews of LS have explored its growth, geographical spread, impact and key features, this study provides a different perspective. It analyses whether and to what degree the “lesson study” models these studies describe align with the literature on JLS, and the implications of this for researchers and practitioners.