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The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the potential of Lesson Study (LS) as a tool for dealing with dilemmas in university teaching.

This paper is the result of a LS project which was developed over two academic years (2015-2016 and 2016-2017) in the Faculties of Education and Teacher Training at the Universities of Cantabria and Oviedo (Spain). The research asked the question “How can better learning be achieved?” The starting point for the research methodology was the identification and analysis of teaching dilemmas. The whole process was based on the triangulation of perspectives through the collection of data using techniques such as peer observation, focus groups, interviews, and the writing of the Teacher’s final report. The methodology the authors used was inspired by the Student Voice “movement.”

The findings show that the potential of LS methodology for professional development in higher education is very promising, enabling teachers to deal with the questions raised by practice collaboratively, broaden their professional knowledge, introduce improvements, and establish new ways of understanding the teaching profession based on a collegial approach.

LS methodology is beginning to be known in Spain. Developments have only taken place very recently and there are still few experiences within the university context. It is not common practice for teaching in higher education to become a public space for reflection and research breaking from the traditional isolation between teachers and incorporating the voices of students.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of family ownership (FO) and family control (FC) on firm preference for debt financing and to test whether FC affects the association between FO and debt financing.

Debt financing was measured by the total debt to total assets ratio, whereas FO was proxied by family-individual, family-institutional, and family-total shares. Additionally, the appointment of family members, founders, and descendants to CEO positions and the dual role of their CEO positions were used to proxy FC. As a panel data technique, the dynamic estimator of the generalized method of moments (GMM) was employed for a sample of 80 Egyptian listed firms during the 2011–2018 period.

The findings showed that debt financing is positively affected by family-individual shares and family-total shares and negatively affected by family-institutional shares. FC, as proxied by family and founder CEOs, and the dual role of their CEO positions has led to more debt consumption as a mechanism to preserve family dominance over the business. Conversely, the presence and the dual role of descendant CEOs have led to less debt utilization due to their risk aversion behavior. Additionally, we showed that the association between FO and debt financing is affected by various FC patterns.

This study highlighted that firm preference for debt financing is affected by the noneconomic motivations of family CEOs, such as preserving family socioemotional wealth.