In this article we review the evidence of the impact of lesson study on student learning, teacher development, teaching materials, curriculum, professional learning and system enhancement. We argue for lesson study to be treated holistically as a vehicle for development and improvement at classroom, school and system levels rather than as a curricular or pedagogical intervention. We illustrate the need for this approach to evaluating lesson study through a complex case exemplar which used Research Lesson Study (a form of lesson study popular in the UK and Europe) to develop learning, teaching, curriculum and local improvement capacity across schools initially involved in a two‐year mathematics curriculum development project that later evolved into three self‐sustaining, voluntary lesson study school hubs in London. We discuss resulting changes in culture, practice, belief, expectation and student learning. We argue as a result for greater policy level understanding of this expanded conception of lesson study as a vehicle in classroom, school and system transformation.

Abstract:Two departments in a secondary school in England participated in 'lesson study' projects over a five-month period to explore its usefulness as a vehicle for professional development. Through a cycle of two research lessons, conducted separately in each department, teachers identified challenges that inhibited the learning of their students and collaboratively prepared innovative approaches to address the learning challenges. The process yielded multiple sets of data: DVD-recorded lessons, lesson plans and resources, transcripts of preparation and evaluation meetings and individual interviews at the end of the project. This paper draws principally on detailed qualitative analysis of end-of-project interviews about teacher experiences of learning and practice development in the two contexts. While the teachers encountered some logistical challenges to the implementation of lesson study, a number of important gains were reported: collaboration in lesson study reduced feelings of professional isolation; teachers reported a sharper focus on pupil learning and more confidence to take risks with approaches to teaching, which led to greater opportunities for pupils to engage in interactive activities, for example involving problem-solving and peer teaching in groups.Keywords: secondary school, lesson study, collaboration, observation of learning, teacher development IntroductionThe purpose of lesson study is improvement in the quality of teaching through a 'reflexive, recursive and collaborative' process (Dudley 2011, 5). Translated from the term 'kenkyu jugyou' meaning lesson study, the process originates from Japan where it has been widely used since the 1950s (Abiko 2011). A lesson study cycle involves small groups of teachers collaboratively planning a 'research lesson' that is taught by one member of the group while the others observe one or two 'case' pupils (Dudley 2011). The lesson is then evaluated in light of the reflections of the teacher and the insights of those who observed their respective case pupils. Subsequently, the lesson may be revised for further teaching with other classes (Hiebert and Stigler 2000). What distinguishes this from other forms of professional development is the planning of jointly conceived research lessons to address particular problems with learning, rather than focusing on the performance of an individual teacher.The process requires an investment of time and patience: 'Lesson study is a process of improvement that is expected to produce small, incremental improvements in teaching over long periods of time ' (Stigler and Hiebert 1999, 121). Consequently, it may not be attractive 2 in school systems that are hungry for quick-fix impacts, for example on examination results. Despite this, its use is growing and ever larger numbers of research investigations have explored its effectiveness in different contexts (Lewis, Perry and Murata 2006;Fernandez 2002;Fernandez, Cannon and Chokshi 2003;Lawrence and Chong 2010;Dudley , 2013). According to Lewis (2004, 19), teachers in Japa...

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