Cultural and Structural Challenges to the Implementation of Lesson Study in Spain

• In Event: Lesson Study: The Challenges of International Implementation

Abstract

Objectives
This presentation gives an overview of the implementation of LS as part of an Initial Teacher Training programme at the Universidad Catolica de Valencia “San Vicente Martir” (UCV). The presentation explores challenges to LS adaptation to the Spanish context due to cultural as well as the structural particularities of the Spanish education system.

Perspective and theoretical framework
Initial Teacher Education in Spain has been broadly discussed as one of the main focuses for improving the quality of the Spanish education system. Of particular concern is the lack of connection between the theory taught at university and the practice in the classroom (Gómez et al., 2019).

Methods and data
25 mentor teachers filled in a questionnaire (Likert scale and open-ended questions) about LS perceptions. The answers to the open-ended questions were analyzed qualitatively.

Results and conclusions
We first explore the nature of the relationship between the university and the educational centre, between the university supervisor and the mentor in the school, finding that, as a rule, it is a piecemeal relationship (Saiz-Linares & Ceballos-López, 2019).

Analysis of the questionnaire data show a general satisfaction with the LS experience. However, mentors claim lack of training to complete their tasks properly. Asking mentors for more training hours at the university is complicated and has been proven to be unsuccessful due to the constraints of the school day, and mentors receive little or no financial compensation. In order to improve the training of mentors and help them to better guide pre-service teachers, the UCV LS team created a series of materials and videos, organised chronologically, which provide guidelines for each of the different steps of the LS cycle.

The paper also explores a second challenge, namely the relative rarity in Spain of having more than one teacher in the classroom, which is considered to be disruptive for pupils. Therefore, in addition to the pre-service teachers, the mentor is part of the LS group participating in the whole LS process.

However, results show that the relationship between mentors and pre-service teachers has been strengthened, the mentor's contributions to the LS group are relevant and highly valued by pre-service teachers and a number of LS groups with in-service teachers have emerged at these schools (Angelini & Alvarez, 2018).

Scholarly or scientific significance
This presentation explores the ways in which LS can be beneficial for teachers and schools, even in a context in which there are cultural and structural challenges, when creative solutions to such challenges are explored and implemented.

References
Angelini, M. L., & Álvarez, N. (2018). Spreading lesson study in pre-service teacher instruction. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies. 7 (1). 23-36.
Gómez, E. S., Núñez, M. J. S., Trapero, N. P., & Gómez, Á. I. P. (2019). Nuevos retos en la formación del profesorado. Lesson Study: acompañar la enseñanza y la investigación. Márgenes: Revista de Educación de la Universidad de Málaga, 38-57.
Saiz-Linares, Á., & Ceballos-López, N. (2019). El practicum de magisterio a examen: reflexiones de un grupo de estudiantes de la Universidad de Cantabria. Revista iberoamericana de educación superior, 10(27), 136-150.

Author

• Maria Neus Alvarez