The impact of Research Lesson Study on teacher learning patterns

Although Lesson Study (LS) integrates many of the characteristics of effective professional development, empirical evidence of its association to teacher learning is still scarce. We aim to examine how teachers’ participation in LS affects their own learning patterns, which refer to a set of learning activities, beliefs and motivations about teaching and learning. We also aim to examine how different types of support offered to LS groups in the form of an advisor in the subject matter and a facilitator of the LS process, can affect teachers’ learning patterns. To examine these aims, we conducted a two-phase study in Cyprus and Greece that was part of a larger EU project. In Phase I, we aimed to validate the Inventory of Teacher Learning, which was translated into Greek and measures three different types of teacher learning patterns: meaning-oriented learning, application-oriented learning and problematic learning. Having administered the questionnaire to 253 secondary school teachers, we used confirmatory factor analysis and found that a three-factor model had a good fit to our data, despite a high correlation between meaning-oriented and application-oriented learning. Phase II concerns an intervention study with two experimental groups that conduct LS, but with different types of support, and a control group that was not introduced to LS. Regression analyses from Phase II will determine whether teachers’ participation in LS has an effect on their learning and whether the type of support plays a role. The outcomes of the study have theoretical, methodological and educational significance