Some respondents came to learn about lesson study through the training they received in Japan or Malaysia. ISP2 reported having been trained in Malaysia:
I also had a chance through the same JICA to go to Malaysia and part of the study we looked at lesson study in Japan. So we got the idea from the Japanese Lesson Study. However, we developed our own Zambian lesson study, which has got eight stages. (ISP2)
MOE1 stated that lesson study was an approach he learnt through collaboration with the Japanese people. MOE1 stated that he had acquired information on lesson study as follows:
In 2005, when Zambia introduced lesson study as a way for teacher professional development, we were trained at Mulungushi University in the practice of lesson study by colleagues from JICA, as well as colleagues who were trained earlier in Japan from the National Science Centre … and a few colleagues from Central Province who are the pioneers of lesson study. So I have picked it up through my own participation as a teacher at my former school and also as a co-ordinator of CPD activities in secondary schools when I was working as a resource centre co-ordinator. (MOE1)
ISP6 reported having participated in the JICA sponsored lesson study project in Kenya, stating that, “we were sponsored by JICA to get into Kenya to learn the skills, come back to train our colleagues”. Furthermore, he reported having obtained information about lesson study from the training in the lesson study Pilot Project in the Central Province of Zambia.
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MOE2 said that he was part of the team that co-ordinated teacher education and spearheaded lesson study projects. He added that he was involved in the National Education Support Team (NEST).
ISP2 found lesson study information from SPRINT meetings in schools. She commented that SPRINT was the structure through which lesson study was introduced in schools. ISP4 commented that there was lesson study information flow between departments in the Ministry of Education.
Teacher Education found it fit and important to co-ordinate with us. So we’re in constant touch with Teacher Education so that information flows. Also, sometimes, other courses, which are designed to build the capacity of people that are involved in the advisory role at the NEST- that is National Education Support Team. (ISP4)
Differences between lesson study and other CPD approaches
ISP5 compared the cascade approach with the lesson study approach and explained that lesson study was school-based continuing professional development. She added that, more often than not, the cascade approach required someone from the district level to go to a school and train teachers. According to this respondent, the cascade system was not a school-owned program, but lesson study was owned by the school. As a result, lesson study was more valuable to the school than the cascade approach.
According to MOE1, lesson study was more effective as a continuing professional activity than other models because it used the classroom, where the teachers work, as a centre of learning for the teachers themselves. He added that teachers, while they are growing themselves, could also offer a service to the students. Teachers continued teaching, as they did not have to attend a college for them to become better teachers. He further compared lesson study to “peer teaching” that was implemented under SPRINT. The latter involved teachers pretending to be students and one of them presenting a lesson, after which they discussed the effects of the lesson on fellow teachers. However, according to MOE1, lesson study was more real because
lesson study is actually based in the classroom with actual students and therefore the reactions we will be getting will be more real. The challenges among the students in
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terms of learning will also be real and if there’s good progress, I mean if the lesson is very effective, again it will be seen within the students themselves who are the intended beneficiaries of these activities which we do as teachers. That is the major difference between other practices of CPD and lesson study. (MOE1)
MOE2 also stated that lesson study is more collaborative than other CPD approaches. According to ISP3, lesson study was more practical in the sense that people who attended lesson study were the ones who would directly approach the children. Therefore, the respondent believed that the amount of distortion of information was reduced.
ISP2 differentiated lesson study from other CPD approaches:
Lesson study is somehow different because it is more focused on a problem. You know the problem, identifies like how best can we teach trigonometric ratio. Then the focus will be there, finding the ways and after that, this is documented, unlike other CPD methods. (ISP2)
Further, ISP4 believed that
The lesson study structure cannot be distorted by any means. We have to follow that structure for us to implement lesson study... When it’s just lesson study, it has to follow its structure. (ISP4)
The above response resonates with the statement in the Implementation Guidelines that the “The lesson study cycle should be followed by respective schools” (MOE & JICA, 2010b, p. 20).