Lesson Study for Learning Community : A Guide to Sustainable School Reform

Lesson Study has been actively introduced from Japan to various parts of the world, starting with the US. Such introduction is heavily connected with a focus on mathematics education and there is a strong misconception that Lesson Study is only for mathematics or science. The introduction is usually done at the departmental or form level and there has been a strong question about its sustainability in schools.

This book comprehensively explores the idea of Lesson Study for Learning Community (LSLC) and suggests that reform for the culture of the school is needed in order to change learning levels among the children, teachers and even parents. In order for this to happen, the ways of management and leadership are also included as objectives of LSLC, as are practices at the classroom level. It argues that LSLC is a comprehensive vision and framework of school reform and needs to be taken up in a holistic way across disciplines. Chapters include:

• How to Create Time
• How to Build the Team
• How to Promote Reform
• How to Reform Daily Lessons
• How to Conduct a Research Lesson
• How to Discuss Observed Lessons
• How to Sustain School Reform based on LSLC

Strong interest in LSLC is already prevalent in Asian countries, such as Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore and is now being introduced more in the west. This book will be of great interest to those involved in education policy and reform, and for practitioners of education at all levels.

Eisuke Saito is an assistant professor in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Masatsugu Murase is an educational consultant with the Azabu Institute ofEducation. Prior to that, he was a lecturer and associate professor at Shinshu University, Japan.

Atsushi Tsukui is a researcher at the International Development Center of Japan. He has also worked in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines.

John Yeo is a lecturer in the department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.