Inclusive education highlights the need to address students' diverse cultural, linguistic, social and cognitive backgrounds to ensure equitable learning for all students. This study aims to examine how an adapted lesson study model supports pre-service biology and geology teachers in developing awareness and knowledge related to inclusive teaching.
Implemented within a master's program in initial teacher education, three lesson studies were developed collaboratively by pre-service teachers, two university teacher educators acting as facilitators and three cooperating teachers who implemented the research lessons in their secondary classes. Each lesson study involved collaborative planning of a research lesson, with specific goals, observation and reflection on the lesson. Data were collected through pre-service teachers' written reflections, questionnaires applied before and after the process, and interviews with both pre-service and cooperating teachers.
Results indicate that the lesson study promoted essential pedagogical competencies, such as detailed lesson planning considering the diversity of students, the value of collaborative work and deepened reflective practice. A key insight into the development of inclusive teaching awareness was the benefit of observing in-service teachers as they adapted instruction in real time, which helped pre-service teachers reflect on strategies for pedagogical differentiation. The study also specifies how pre-service teachers can be supported to notice the relationship between teacher actions, classroom organisation and students' opportunities to participate in inclusive classrooms.
These findings support the value of adapted lesson study models as important strategies for preparing pre-service teachers to engage with diversity and promote inclusion in the classroom.
