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This research aims to understand the learning with regard to didactic knowledge of an early childhood teacher who participated in a Lesson Study (LS) on the topic of patterns, as well as her perspective about LS as a teacher education process.

This is a qualitative case study of an early childhood teacher who participated in a LS alongside three other colleagues and a facilitator. Data collection was made by participant observation with elaboration of a research journal, audio recording of sessions and a collective interview. Data analysis was made by content analysis based on the conceptual framework.

This case study shows that early childhood teachers may become aware of the importance of working with their children mathematical ideas. It also shows that they may develop their didactic knowledge in several dimensions such as school mathematics, curriculum, children and their learning, and teaching practice and that they may appreciate LS as a means of professional development.

This study shows the potential of LS for the professional development of early childhood teachers, a scarcely researched area. It also shows that their learning may include dimensions related to specific curricular areas such as mathematics.

The study aims to understand what learning is evidenced regarding knowledge about the teaching of mathematics by five primary teachers when they reflect on research lessons. To do so, we used situations from the formal and informal reflection sessions that took place after teaching four research lessons.

It is a qualitative and interpretative research. Data collection was done by participant observation with elaboration of a research journal, audio recording of sessions and a whole-group interview. Data analysis was made by content analysis based on the conceptual framework.

The study shows the relevance of carrying out successive research lessons, followed by moments of formal and informal reflection, leading to improvements in relation to the way the task is proposed to the pupils, the representations used and the monitoring and questioning carried out by the teacher in the various phases of the lesson.

In lesson study, very often, only one research lesson is held. This case shows the potential of successive research lessons, each of which is followed by moments of reflection, in promoting the development of teachers’ didactic knowledge, namely regarding teaching practice, providing a more in-depth look at the way pupils work on mathematical tasks and the role of the teacher in promoting learning. Reteaching proved to be a valuable strategy to support teachers’ reflections in order to improve the leading of pupils’ work.

This study examines the challenges and successes of implementing and sustaining lesson study (LS) as an approach to in-service teacher professional development (PD) in primary schools in Portugal and England, highlighting the impact of institutional contexts.

Two schools that used LS as an approach to PD over a period of at least three years were identified. The theoretical framework of institutionalism guided the methodology and analysis of findings, seeking to explore relationships between institutionalised PD practices at national and school level, and how interactions between actors in schools helped or hindered the institutionalism of LS. The qualitative case studies included document analysis, observations of LS practices and interviews with teachers and leaders engaging in LS.

The findings reveal the importance of institutional entrepreneurs, who create a narrative to support LS, allocate resources to enable it and create a “relational space”, in which it can be tested and tweaked before sharing with others in the school. An institutional entrepreneur is particularly vital when national regulatory frameworks prescribe specific PD types that are not conducive to LS (such as in Portugal). However, even in more open frameworks, the entrepreneur needs to frame the LS model to fit institutionalised expectations.

This study, with its analysis of strategies that support sustained use of LS in schools, advances the growing field of LS research. This field of research is moving its focus from short-term LS projects that concentrate on immediate impact on teachers and students, to a sustainable approach that uses LS for in-service, school-based teacher PD, a practice with a long history in Japan.