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The purpose of this paper is to describe the design and initial implementation of a lesson study network in the US intended to support implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Participant observation and artifact collection document the development of the teaching through problem solving (TTP) network over a 14-month period.

The TTP network draws heavily on Japanese practices (e.g. lesson study) and Japanese materials (e.g. coherent, focussed mathematics curriculum) to support changes envisioned in the US CCSS related to students’ mathematical practices and dispositions. The reasons for choice of these key Japanese features are explicated, and teachers’ initial reactions described.

The design shows promise for combining teacher “ownership” with implementation of high-quality approaches designed by others; and allowing instructional innovations developed in Japan to flow into US practice. TTP in mathematics has persistently resisted implementation in the US, so the network is designed to target a central problem in implementing the CCSS.

A method for instructional innovations to spread from classrooms in one country to another is suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively explore the current situation of lesson study (LS) implementation and practice among Mathematics Teacher Educators (MTEs) in Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) across the country in Laos. Moreover, the study investigates MTEs’ professional learning through LS experience, the difficulties they encountered during practicing LS and their urgent needs to deepen their comprehension in the context of LS.

Data were collected through semi-structured interview with 45 MTEs from 7 TTCs in February/March 2018 (seven weeks). The study also collected 14 LS reports, 7 LS posters from the respondents and observed one cycle of LS practice in 2 TTCs. The data were systematically analyzed using inductive category formation through the procedure of transcribing and reading the transcription, thematic coding and categorizing and interpreting the meaning of thematic ideas (Mayring, 2015; Merriam, 2009). Licensed software MAXQDA 10 was used for this qualitative study.

The study argued based on LS practice in LS model 1 and model 2. MTEs that followed LS model 1 practiced LS in a superficial aspect and quantitatively relied upon the results from the checklists. They majorly satisfied the immediate measurement of teacher teaching’s behavior and student learning’s behavior. Frequently, time constraints, writing LS reports and collaboration were the great challenges. In contrast, MTEs that followed LS model 2 practiced LS in order to deepen understanding of students’ mathematical thinking. Although LS helped them by adjusting appropriate learning task, they encountered difficulty to innovate it effectively. LS also helped them in offering students’ autonomy to explore mathematical ideas, but they failed to understand the values of utilizing students’ mathematical ideas.

The findings from this study are beneficial for LS practice in the country and similar LS initiatives to find a measure to enhance the effectiveness of LS in schools and TTCs. The study suggested providing clear details of each step, the essential aspect and the core concept of LS to MTEs for successful transposition of LS to a non-Japanese context. Providing LS advisors who have had great experience in conducting LS not just high teaching or working experience only is highly recommended. This study has a limitation in observing LS practices from all seven TTCs.

Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) recognizes the significance of implementing LS in TTCs to enhance the quality of teaching-learning, though the progress of LS in those TTCs has not yet been addressed. Current situation of LS revealed in this study is valuable for similar initiatives, MoES and Japan International Cooperation Agency to make an effort in order to move LS forward.

This study aimed to explore teachers' learning processes through a hybrid cross-cultural lesson study (LS) because little is known about the learning process through this novel and promising LS approach.

This cross-cultural LS lasted over six months focusing on developing a research lesson (RL) related to linear functions/equations by addressing a commonly concerned student learning difficulty. The data collected were lesson plans, videos of RLs, cross-culture sharing meetings and post-lesson study teacher interviews. A cultural-history activity theory (CHAT) perspective (Engeström, 2001) was used as a theoretical and analytical framework, and contradictions were viewed as driving forces of teachers' learning. The data were analyzed to identify contradictions and consequent teachers' learning by resolving these contradictions.

The results revealed four contradictions occurring during the hybrid cross-cultural LS that are related to the preferred teaching approach, culturally relevant tasks, making sense of the specific topic and enactment of the RL. By addressing these contradictions, the participating teachers perceived their learning in cultural beliefs, pedagogical practice and organization of the lesson.

This study details teachers' collaborative learning processes through hybrid cross-cultural LS and provides implications for effectively conducting cross-cultural LS. However, how the potential learning opportunity revealed from this case could be actualized at a larger scale in different cultures and the actual impact on local practices by adapting effective practices from another culture are important questions to be investigated further.

This study expands teacher learning through cross-cultural LS by focusing on contradictions cross-culturally as driving forces.

This study concerned aspiring educational leaders’ problem-solving skill development, specifically through classroom instruction with real-world scenarios. Professional educators obtaining an advanced degree in educational administration at a public university were surveyed in the fall and spring about their problem-solving abilities. Participants were also asked to respond to real-world principal scenarios. Focus group interviews were conducted in the spring. Results indicated that participants’ confidence in their problem-solving abilities did improve, though their ability to address the real-world problems did not improve significantly. Participants identified the value of learning from real-world scenarios and professors who had experience as administrators, and they also recognized the importance of learning from one another during discussions of the scenarios. Participants indicated that they still needed experience working in actual administrative contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how teachers improve core instructional practices in teaching mathematics for problem solving through lesson study (LS). The core practices included launching a task, implementing a task, and orchestrating students’ solutions.

This study adopted multiple case study and survey methodologies. Each of three LS groups developed a research lesson on problem solving in algebra through Chinese LS, which includes collaborative planning and repeated teachings/debriefings of the research lesson with support from experts. The data collected included lesson plans, videotaped research lessons and debriefing meetings, and an end-of-project survey. Case studies supported by survey data were utilized to describe how research lessons were improved and what teachers learned from LS.

A fine-grained analysis of the data revealed that the participants improved their strategies for teaching for problem solving, which included effectively launching tasks, strategically implementing tasks, and productively orchestrating students’ solutions to the tasks. Further, analyses revealed that the feedback from experts during debriefing meetings played crucial roles in making these changes. Moreover, participants learned how to implement these core instructional practices and changed their views about students’ learning.

The study uncovers the mechanisms about how teachers improve teaching and their expertise in teaching through Chinese LS. The importance of the dynamic between repeated teaching and immediate feedback from knowledgeable others is highlighted.

This chapter reports on the design-based research study aimed at the re- and codesign of the third-year course “Introduction to Biostatistics,” part of the Bachelor program in Medicine. The authors aimed to make teaching more interactive, student-based and future-proof by empirically testing theoretical assumptions during iterative studies, including both quantitative and qualitative results from the perspective of the students and the teacher. The authors’ conclusion is that teacher–researcher collaboration can be an effective approach for professional development and improving innovative practices. At the same time, it allows to get a better theoretical understanding of effective teaching and learning practices. The authors hope that this chapter can inspire others to transform toward a progressive institution and looking for concrete innovative classroom practices in the context of innovative learning spaces.

This study aims to develop a self-reflection scale useful for teachers to improve their skills and to clarify the Japanese teachers’ characteristics during mathematics lesson observation (MLO). In MLO, it is important to understand the lesson plan in advance to clarify observation points, and we aim to develop a scale including these points.

Based on the pre-questionnaire survey, nine perspectives and two situations for MLO were extracted. From these, a questionnaire for MLO was created. The results obtained from 161 teachers were examined, and exploratory factor analysis was conducted. ANOVA was conducted to analyze the effect of differences across the duration of teaching experience on the identified factors.

We developed a self-reflection scale consisting of 14 items with three factors: [B1] focus on instructional techniques and evaluation, [B2] focus on proactive problem-solving lesson development and [B3] focus on the mathematical background of the learning content. While duration of teaching experience showed no effect, three factors of the self-reflection scale for MLO showed a significant effect. Further multiple comparisons revealed the degree of focus was [B2]>[B1]>[B3].

Teachers who use this developed scale may grasp the strengths and weaknesses of their own MLO, which leads to self-improvement. The perspectives emphasized in lesson observation are the same when creating lesson plans and implementing lessons, leading to lesson improvement. Furthermore, based on the characteristics of teachers revealed, new training programs regarding MLO can lead to higher-quality lesson studies.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the expectations and reality perspectives accrued in a preliminary management course and understand if they impart and embed real-world skills and develop work readiness.

Primary data collected for the research were qualitative. A total of six focus groups were conducted with a total of 52 students enrolled at a large metropolitan university in Australia. NViVO was used to code and analyse the data.

The study found that at the commencement of university studies, the expectations were simple like, making new friends, getting around the campus and settling well into the university culture, which over time extended to getting a part-time job, securing internships, memberships of associations, desire to participate in exchange programs and get work-ready by the close of the first year. The research outcomes show that those who held a part-time job while studying demonstrated a better understanding of the preliminary management subject matter taught in class and obtained better grades. Primarily, the preliminary management course did not specifically impart work-ready skills and it would be fitting to embed employability skills in the management curriculum from the commencement of their programs in the first year.

Qualitative research is used to comprehend a research problem from the outlook perspectives of the local population it involves. The limitations of this methodology includes no objectively verifiable result, adept interviewing skills for interviewers, slow and time consuming during interviewing process and intensive category process also as qualitative inquiry is normally open-ended, the participants have more control over the content of the data collected.

The lack of skill mismatch and graduates who are not work-ready incurs significant economic and social costs. A number of policy implications emerge due to university-labour market links and skills mismatches and the impact on students and the labour market. The rise in unemployment and the skills mismatch seen after the economic crisis requires immediate attention. Job creation is crucial but so is the need to develop graduate with appropriate matching skills and qualities to do the job. Mandatory internships, apprenticeships and on-the-job training for university students would help. Governments can provide financial incentives and subsidies to organisations providing the above services and working cooperatively with the universities to get students work-ready. Universities must raise the educational requirements over time as jobs become more complex. Universities can build communities of practice with the assistance of this scheme to enable students to interact with the industry professionals. An additional year of vocational training could be recommended for the graduating students. This would help the young graduates to get work-related skills. Wheelahan et al. (2015) state that building better links between education and work can help provide a more rational approach to vocational development. They propose the use of vocational streams and productive capabilities in the education system and labour market to achieve this.

This requires a combined effort from all stakeholders. A systematic approach needs to be adopted. First, the gap between the knowledge provided by the universities and the skills required by the employers need to be reduced. Second, the employers and the universities should keep a watch on the labour market and develop strategies to meet the dynamic requirements of the labour market collaboratively. Third, career guidance will help inform students make a career choice to match the labour market opportunities. This should be a part of the policy agenda for responding to the lack of work-ready graduates in the labour market.

Learning and teaching activities must include industry interface and engagement right from the first year at university. The main findings from this research indicated the need for better understanding of first-year students’ expectations. The two significant student expectations that emerged were “need for collaborations” and “industry interface”.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the contributions to the current issue.

The paper is intended to stimulate a discussion about the nature of lesson study (LS), its use in initial teacher education (ITE) and the role of learning theory in the design of the research lesson.

The term LS was first used to describe a Japanese LS. It was seen as career-long teacher-initiated collaborative professional development through which teachers researched lesson designs to teach problem-solving and develop independent thinking skills in their students. As it has been adopted across the world, it has been adapted. This raises questions about the form and effect of LS in its various forms, about the role of learning theory in the design of research lessons and about the appropriateness of introducing LS in programmes of ITE.

This editorial review provides an overview of the insights and issues identified by the authors in this issue of the journal.

A first post-WALS attempt at a thematic analysis of the conference presentations since its first annual meeting in 2007, this paper aims to achieve two major purposes: first, to capture the trends of spread and diffusion of lesson and learning studies globally and second, to draw useful implications for future conferences.

A thematic analysis using NVIVO12.0 coding on all forms of conference presentations found in the WALS 2019 Conference Programme was conducted. Representative cases were selected from paper and symposiums sessions to support the claims generated from the analysis.

The study provides an evidence-based confirmation of the global spread and diffusion of lesson and learning studies. It uncovers findings key to the initial spread and continued diffusion; examines funding as a mechanism enabling university–school research relationships, models of adaptations and issues of sustainability; surfaces the theoretical models and methods adopted in paper and symposia presentations. The current situation, lessons learned and possible implications for future WALS conferences are discussed.

Inform research on practical cases.

Lessons learned are discussed.

These are possible implications for future WALS conferences.

The originality lies in its being the first WALS post-conference analysis aiming at identifying substantive themes with potential to draw important implications for future research and subsequent years' conferences.