An examination of the international manifestations of Lesson Study that began as a Japanese model of teacher professional learning

Lesson Study was developed in Japan over 40 years ago as a process to be used in the rebuilding of the education system after the war. It is a model of school based teacher professional learning that examines practice either through direct observation or through classroom artefacts and case studies. The core of the Lesson Study process involves working on focus lessons, providing a meaningful context for non-threatening lesson observation, and promoting greater collaboration within the group and staff. Although Lesson Study was known and copied by other countries before 1999, Stigler and Hiebert's book released in that year' greatly increased its popularity and exposure. The result has seen the term Lesson Study becoming an umbrella term for a great number of different approaches. These international manifestations are different in significant aspects as a consequence of differences in social and cultural ways. Even in the one country such as Australia, Lesson Study differs markedly between the states of New South Wales and Victoria. This paper aims to share with conference participants, experiences of the Lesson Study Process from a number of countries. It seeks to highlight the challenges, constraints and the modifications made as a result of differing cultural and social contexts.