62 9. Creating time for lesson study and building it into school systems What works Lesson study is very good value for money if you genuinely
create opportunities for its outcomes to feed into the practices of
those involved in the study and others in the school.
Some heads have created dedicated professional learning time
when lesson study groups plan and analyse their lessons from time
normally allocated to professional development and management.
Judicious use of PPA time, specialist teaching time, staggered
timetables or break times and any other means which allow some
teachers to be free to talk together, can create opportunities for
planning or post lesson discussion which do not always demand
supply cover.
Heads of department can build Lesson Study into their school
teaching and learning policy by creating a staff professional learning
policy. These gives teachers and others entitlement to professional
learning and CPD opportunities which include the models now
recognised as having most impact on classroom practice. (See
page 1).
One example of linking Lesson Study with performance
management productively was achieved by treating participation
in lesson study and sharing of the outcomes with colleagues - as
a component of performance management. Staff involved felt that
with lesson study they improved areas where they felt less
confident rather than playing safe in an area of relative teaching
strength.
It is important to keep lesson study separate from performance
monitoring.
Some lesson study groups demonstrate the techniques they
develop to other teachers in a public research lesson. Here pupils
stay behind after school and the lesson is taught in the hall in front
of an invited audience from neighbouring universities. A lively
discussion follows. This is popular in Japan.
Notes ‘…what I’ve been surprised and really pleased about I think is that people who normally close the door and get on with what they do in a lesson, have suddenly thought ‘Oh hang on, this is good for me, within my lesson. It’s good for the kids within my lesson, it’s practical, I’m doing something. And they’ve really got on board. And that’s been remarkable in our place..’