Promoting mathematics teacher collaboration through Lesson Study : what can we learn from two countries' experience?

In Australia, the Lesson Study Project is an on-going statewide government secondary schools initiative conducted by the Professional Support and Curriculum Directorate of the New South Wales Department of Education and Training. It began in 2001, and continues to function in spite of the withdrawal of support by the government at the end of 2004. In Malaysia, Lesson Study has just been implemented in two secondary schools since June 2004. This paper aims to share with the conference participants our experiences of conducting the Lesson Study Process in two countries: Malaysia and Australia. It seeks to highlight the challenges, constraints and the modifications made as a result of differing cultural contexts. During the presentation, some video segments of the process within the classrooms of both countries will be displayed to give a better insight into the Lesson Study process. We also hope to reflect together with the conference participants on the possibility of implementing Lesson Study within their own countries