Organizational Learning in Reforming Lesson Study in Japan: A Case Study of Development of School as Learning Community

• In Event: Education Policy and Educational Reform

Proposal

This study aims to characterize organizational learning in reforming lesson study based on a case study of school reform for School as Learning Community (SLC) in Japan. The central task of school reform for SLC is to reform lesson study (Sato, 1992; 1996; 2007; 2008; 2018; Ose, 2000; Ose and Sato, 2000).
Interestingly, the lesson study reform was clearly recognized theoretically and practically in the establishment of Hamanogo Elementary School (HGE), the first pilot school of school reform for SLC, April 1998. This is because the growth of global understanding and dissemination of Japanese lesson study was particularly active from the 2000s (Stigler and Hiebert, 1999; Lewis, 2002; Lewis, Perry, & Murata, 2006; Sato, 2008) to the 2010s (Lewis, Akita, & Sato, 2010; Lewis, 2015; Saito, Murase, Tsukui, and Yeo, 2015; Lewis & Lee, 2018; Tsukui & Murase, 2018; Ko, 2018; Lee & Lim-Ratnam, 2018). In the development of more than 100 years of lesson study since the Meiji period [1868–1912], Japanese lesson study have developed with a wide variety of purposes and styles. After the turning point of the century, it can be said that, in parallel with the 20 years in which understanding and popularization of lesson study in its most orthodox purpose and style developed globally, the lesson study reform that promoted a progressive purpose and style was growing. Therefore, the goal of this study is to clarify the details of the experiment of HGE at the time of its establishment and development and the experiences of teachers at the school.
This study adopts “theory-of-action approach” led by Donald A. Schön and Joseph P. McDonald, who are action researchers in school reform (Schön & McDonald, 1998; McDonald et al., 2014). In particular, this study focuses on the three facets of “theory of action” in school reform: “espoused theory”, “design theory”, and “theory in use” and examines the complex and dynamic process in which “organizational learning” of lesson study takes place in the pilot school. “Organizational learning” occurs “when individuals within an organization experience a problematic situation and inquire into it on the organization’s behalf” (Argyris & Schön, 1996).
This study characterizes the “organizational learning” of lessen study reform through examining the teachers’ narrative teaching records (jissen kiroku) (Asai, 2008; 2019) which have been one of the main discourse to represent their teaching practices at the pilot school which has leaded and influenced the following school reform for SLC in Japan. How did teachers’ “theories of action” be developed in such narrative teaching records? Why did teachers construct their “theories of action” in school reform? How did these developments be linked to the past of school reform? What kind of school reform future is prepared for? The findings of this study will contribute to broadening our understanding of instruction reform, lesson study reform and school reform.

Author

• Yuta Suzuki, Tokyo Institute of Technology