Lesson Study effectiveness for teachers’ professional learning: a best evidence synthesis

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to gather evidence for the effectiveness of Lesson Study (LS) for teachers’ professional learning. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of relevant papers published between January 2010 and April 2018 was performed. To accomplish the best evidence synthesis, relevant studies were selected based upon well-chosen keywords and inclusion criteria. Afterwards, the quality of the remaining studies was assessed by using a critical appraisal checklist combined with a strength and weakness analysis. Data sources included relevant articles identified through digital searches on Education Research Information Centre and Web of Science, as well through snowball sampling and personal contacts. A total of five studies meeting inclusion criteria were retained for this review. Findings These five studies describe LS as a powerful professional development approach because of its positive impact on teachers’ professional learning. A significant improvement or change for knowledge, skills, behaviour and beliefs has been reported among teachers. Originality/value Only studies with a design that shows high effectiveness were selected. The sample of relevant studies is currently small. As a consequence more large-scale and long-term research which illustrates the short and long-term effects of the LS approach on teachers’ and students’ learning is desirable.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 77 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.