Aspects of professional collaboration in a lesson study

IIUM Journal of Educational Studies

Lesson study is being actively implemented in many countries as one of the continuous professional development programs for school teachers. Since collaboration is an important element of lesson study, it is deemed necessary to investigate teachers' beliefs about collaboration in lesson study. Data were collected through both qualitative and quantitative methods, where teachers were surveyed via questionnaire, interviewed, observed and asked to keep a journal. Thirty-one teachers and a school administrator were involved. The results showed that most teachers agree with the benefits of lesson study, espeially that it improved cooperation and collegiality. Other benefits include: lesson study provides a platform for sharing collaboratively; knowledge is enhanced in terms of content, pedagogy, student-centered instructions , and curriculaability to design constructivist lessons. Negative comments were centered around time constraints and heavy workloadleading to absence from shceduled meetings. Overall, the effect of collaboration in lesson study has led to more improved teachers compared to other professional development approaches.

2019

Lesson study is a collaborative model of teacher professional development, which originated in Japan and has spread around the world. The aim of this paper is to present my reflections on some aspects of this multifaceted model. I present lesson study as teacher training, as resource development, as teacher research, as mathematics education research, as a way to connect education professionals and as a link between theory and practice. I illustrate my reflections using lesson study projects conducted in Lausanne Laboratory Lesson Study (3LS), in particular focusing on my work with a math lesson study group for primary 3 and 4 in-service teachers.

Paper (based on practice)

PUPIL: International Journal of Teaching, Education and Learning, 2018

Teacher collaboration together with (self-)reflection is a key factor to improve teacher professionalism. Nevertheless, collaboration among teachers is not being used sufficiently. One approach to change this is to implement collaborative behaviours earlier, in the university-based teacher-training. To develop eligible methods, the status quo must be defined first. Therefore, this paper researches how, with whom and why education students and trainee teachers collaborate. The study is based on a mixed methods design: At first, qualitative interviews were held to define the structures of collaboration. Main results were, that especially students in the examined internship prefer to collaborate with teachers rather than with their fellow students. Also, collaboration happens spontaneously, and planned structures between teachers and interns are rarely found. All in all, the main collaboration form is exchange (of materials and information) whereas higher forms of collaboration are seldomly realized. To gain more profound numbers, the results were transformed into a standardized questionnaire. In this second quantitative study, 1763 educational science students and trainee teachers participated. The statistic results will be the base for a third study which will be qualitative again in form of episodic interviews. The aim is to explain the quantitative results and point out structures, where universities and schools can start to act and improve the teacher collaboration at an early point of their career to improve teacher professionalization through teacher education. This paper presents the results of the first two studies as well as the leading questions for the future interviews.

2018

In this paper we address design issues of lesson studies that aim to support practicing teachers’ professional development. We discuss these issues based in the cases of two lesson studies that we conducted in the academic year of 2013­ 2014 in a cluster of schools in Lisbon. We strive to show that, besides the consideration of the mathematical content, task features, and focus on student reasoning, attention needs to be paid to organizational issues regarding the way the teachers are invited to become involved in lesson studies and to the collaborative environment provided. We also conclude critical design factors for the success of a lesson study include the investigation style of the whole activity, the combination of teachers’ experiential knowledge with research knowledge, and the exploratory and collaborative environment that frames the activities that the teachers undertake.

Acta Scientiae, 2017

This research aims to know the perspectives of elementary and middle school teachers who participated in three lesson studies about this professional development process and about their professional learning. The study follows a qualitative and interpretative approach, with data collected through interviews, which were realized in June and July of 2016, and data analysis made through content analysis. The teachers’ perspectives regarding the dynamic of lesson study development indicated that they considered this an intense process of collaboration and reflection about the elaboration of exploratory mathematical tasks and about pupils’ learning. Regarding the professional learning made possible by this process, they refer to have developed and deepened their mathematical knowledge and their knowledge of classroom strategies focused on pupils’ thinking. Besides, they indicated that the lesson studies promoted changes in terms of professional and personal relationships of the school ro...

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 2015

Lesson study is highly regarded as a model for professional learning, yet remains undertheorised. This paper examines the professional learning experiences of teachers and numeracy coaches from three schools in a local network of schools, participating in a lesson study project over two research cycles in 2012. It maps the inter-connections between their experiences and their beliefs and practices, using Clarke and Hollingsworth's (2002) Interconnected Model of Professional Growth. Analysis of interview data and video-recordings of planning meetings, research lessons, and post-lesson discussions, reveals the development of teachers' collaborative planning skills, increased attention to students' mathematical thinking, use of orchestrated whole-class discussion based on anticipated student solutions and focused questioning, and the enhancement of collaborative practices for teacher inquiry. Our findings illuminate the interplay between the External Domain, the Personal Domain, the Domain of Practice, and the Domain of Consequence, in the teaching and learning change environment, and the mediating processes of enactment and reflection. Changes in the domains across the period of the lesson study provide evidence of teachers' professional growth, with the iterative processes of enactment and reflection being critical in mediating this professional growth.

Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - memSIC, 2017

The study, whose methodological approach is the focus of attention in this paper, is a qualitative, single longitudinal case study. The object of study is Lesson Study (LS), and the unit of analysis is two LS cycles. What teachers learn about teaching practice and student learning in mathematics from participating in the two cycles is investigated. LS and teaching practice are in the study regarded as object-oriented activities. It is claimed that indications of what the teachers learn during LS processes can be uncovered by the use of discourse analysis because learning is considered as a change in discourse.

Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education

The authors of this paper were tasked by ICME-13 organisers with conducting a survey on the topic "Mathematics Teachers Working and Learning through Collaboration". Four research questions guided the survey, concerned with: the nature of collaborative working; the people who engage collaboratively; the methodological and theoretical perspectives used; what learning could be observed and how it related to collaboration? The resulting survey drew from a wide range of sources, identifying papers relevant to the topic-316 papers were identified, analysed against a set of criteria and organised into three major themes, each relating to one or more of our research questions: Different contexts and features of mathematics teachers working in collaboration; Theories and methodologies framing the studies; Outcomes of collaborations. In addition to the papers revealed by the survey, the team sought contributions from projects around the world which are not represented in the published literature. Members from these projects offered 'narratives' from the work of teachers in the projects. This paper reports on the nature of the projects revealed by the survey and the narratives, their theoretical and methodological focuses, and the range of findings they expressed. While we offer a

Teacher Development, 2024

This study explored the collaborative practices of middle-grade mathematics teachers who participated in a District Professional Development programme aimed at enhancing teacher collaboration by forming professional learning communities. This qualitative case study included 38 middle-grade mathematics teachers. Data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and focus group interviews. The results revealed that while mathematics teachers engage in collaborative practices, their engagement is teacher initiated and primarily in response to identified problems rather than as part of their planned practices. Furthermore, the results showed that their primary motivation for collaborating is to enhance teaching strategies and student outcomes. While teachers acknowledge support from senior leaders, they primarily rely on each other, suggesting a parallel method of collaboration. This lateral approach effectively builds trust, but continued support by senior leaders is crucial for long-term sustainability. These findings highlight the importance of formal and teacher-led collaborative practices to sustain school professional development.

New ICMI studies series, 2024

Teacher collaboration, and teacher professional development within this context, has become an area of interest in recent years. In particular, mathematics teacher education has seen the rise of collaboration as an effective school-based professional development activity, where in-service teachers plan, observe and reflect on lessons together. This paper presents some of the findings from a year-long case study research project which investigated the professional development of mathematics teachers in cross-phase and cross-school collaborations. The findings show that although the teachers were encouraged to jointly plan lessons and peer observe, they were reluctant to do so. This paper explores their reasons for choosing to work alone and the implications this has for collaborative development.

Revista Paranaense de Educação Matemática, 2023

This article aims to present 1 st cycle of basic education Portuguese teachers' learning of teaching pupils between 6 and 7 years of age, when they plan, lead and reflect on the moment of wholeclass discussion, during a lesson study in mathematics. It is a qualitative research, and data collection was carried out by non-participant observation with the elaboration of a logbook and audio and video recording of sessions. The results show that, when planning the whole-class discussion, the teachers became aware of the importance of planning teaching in detail, paying attention to the objectives that are intended to achieve and the role of the teacher in the whole-class discussion. When they conducted and reflected on the discussion, the teachers understood the need to act during the undertaking of the task, in order to support pupils in terms of mathematical language so that they could better communicate their reasoning to their colleagues.

South African Journal of Education

This theoretical paper focuses on how school-based continuous professional development (CPD) for mathematics teachers in schools located in disadvantaged areas can be carried out using the lesson study approach. School-based CPD is based on the notion that teachers need real-time and on-site professional training tailored to improve the instructional practices unique to their school and classroom contexts. The paper seeks to address the research question: How can a lesson study [or research lesson] be used in the school-based CPD of mathematics teachers in schools located in disadvantaged areas? Empirical evidence from lesson study research suggests that it is an effective tool for CPD activities because it is school-centred, focuses on learner learning, and draws on the collective and collaborative experiences of teachers working in the same school mathematics department. Therefore, this paper significantly contributes to theoretical and practical debates on school-based CPD activities in schools located in disadvantaged areas, using lesson study. Further research would necessitate a focus on understanding how the social learning processes within school-based CPD can be linked to school contexts.

2016

School–university partnerships for the professional development of teachers continue to be used extensively in South Africa to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, especially in mathematics. The success of such partnerships in changing teachers’ classroom practices, however, remains in doubt, in part because very few studies present empirical evidence of the changes. This paper assesses the impact of one such partnership, which resulted in perceived changes in teachers’ instructional practices and curriculum decisions after the intervention. Using retrospective pretesting design, the study established that there were significant differences between teachers’ preand post-test scores, which suggests that teachers changed their instructional practices and curriculum decisions after the intervention. The findings provide some empirical evidence that partnerships of this nature, between schools and universities, may prove valuable in attempts to improve the teaching of school ma...