Lesson Study and the Longitudinal Impact on the Development of Teacher Community

Teacher communities are a powerful vehicle for educational reform, but require particular structural and environmental elements in order to develop. Research has demonstrated the value of Lesson Study in supporting the development of teacher communities, where teachers’ work is fundamentally anchored in teaching and learning and where school-based collaboration is encouraged. In this presentation we will examine research on the development of teacher community through Lesson Study, based on a framework by Grossman et al. (2001). We review a case study of mathematics teachers in a school participating in successive cycles of Lesson Study and, returning to the school six years later, we look at the longitudinal impact of teachers’ participation in Lesson Study. As part of the research findings, we will consider the features that contributed to this teacher community. The discussion will consider further avenues of research considering Lesson Study and the development and sustainability of teacher community.