The individual teacher in lesson study collaboration

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the learning of individual teachers participating in lesson study collaboration by adapting a participatory framework about teacher learning; and second, to investigate the potential of this framework compared with other approaches used in lesson study research.

The authors use collective case studies. By being participant observers the authors provide detailed descriptions of two selected teachers’ lived experiences of lesson study collaboration. In addition to gain first-hand insights, the authors conducted interviews before, between and after two rounds of lesson studies, and recorded the various lesson study activities.

This paper provides empirical insights into the complexity of teacher learning. By using the participatory framework, the authors identify significant shifts in the participation of each of the two teachers during a two-year lesson study project. By comparing these shifts the authors identify significant conditions for their individual learning.

Although the study is small scale, both the insights into the different ways in which teachers participated and the theoretical insights might be valuable for other lesson study research approaches.

This paper provides valuable insights into conditions that might influence teachers’ participation in lesson study activities, especially in cultures with little experience of lesson study.

This paper fulfils a need to investigate individual teachers’ learning in lesson study collaborations. It also contributes to deeper theoretical understandings of teacher learning which have been called for in recent lesson study research.