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Lesson study (LS) is a professional development approach that has been attracting attention as an educational innovation since the late 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that contribute to the adoption of LS by schools in developing countries without development assistance.

The diffusion of innovation theory was used as an explanatory device. The study examined the characteristics of LS perceived by 28 teachers in an Indonesian primary school, where LS was actively and autonomously adopted without development assistance. Data were collected from multiple sources, including interviews with some teachers and a questionnaire for all 28 teachers.

While previous studies have indicated that LS as an educational innovation lacks the ideal sets of perceived characteristics that could promote its adoption, this study found that such negative characteristics were mitigated in the Indonesian school. It also found that some of the factors facilitating LS adoption may be information on the outcomes of LS and less hierarchical relationships among teachers and professors. Furthermore, active school leadership was found to be a significant factor in this adoption.

Regarding adoption of LS in developing countries, previous studies focused on how development assistance works, what strategies of development assistance are necessary for introducing LS and how development assistance programs can be sustained. However, scant attention has been paid to how schools in developing countries have fared without development assistance. This study sheds light on this missing point.