The Role of Collaborative Planning: How to Use Joint Planning as a Learning Process in Lesson Study

Abstract

This chapter explores the benefits of joint lesson planning for student-teachers in two higher educational settings, one in Norway and the other in the UK. Lesson study is used as a vehicle for collaborative planning and teacher professional learning during field-practice in both contexts, but the models of lesson study implemented differ slightly to fit the respective initial teacher education (ITE) programmes. In both settings, however, student-teachers, mentor teachers and university tutors work in pairs or small groups to plan, teach and evaluate a research lesson together. The case studies reported in this chapter show the challenges which student-teachers face, but, at the same time, also reveal the potential of lesson study to open a dialogic space where they can share ideas with more experienced colleagues, gain greater awareness of the teaching and learning process and so become more effectively inducted into this community of practice. The chapter also explores the role of the ‘knowledgeable other(s)’, the issue of asymmetrical relationships in lesson study groups within the context of ITE and how this might impact on the learning of the different group members. Collaborative planning in lesson study groups in ITE is found to bridge the gap between what student-teachers learn during teacher training courses and what actually takes place in schools in the respective socio-cultural contexts discussed here.

Citation

Norton, J., Helgevold, N. and Bjuland, R. (2019), "The Role of Collaborative Planning: How to Use Joint Planning as a Learning Process in Lesson Study", Wood, P., Larssen, D.L.S., Helgevold, N. and Cajkler, W. (Ed.) Lesson Study in Initial Teacher Education: Principles and Practices, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 61-73. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-797-920191005