The development of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge in a Chinese lesson study

Abstract

Lesson study (LS) – a teacher-based approach to enhancing teacher development and student learning – has been practiced for decades in China. Chinese lesson study (CLS) has its own cultural roots. It is highly institutionalized, systemic in nature, with established infrastructures sustaining and facilitating its nationwide implementation. Yet the CLS literature on the deep understanding of the teachers’ learning process is still scarce. In particular, there are concerns about the possible effects of Chinese cultural values such as collectivism and respecting the senior. This study is a response to these issues. The research involved a case study of an LS carried out by a group of seven teachers in a prestigious school where teachers are required to take up a public lesson at least once every school year. In other words, LS has been highly institutionalized in the case school. The LS group under study was helping a particular colleague, the demonstrating teacher, who was going to teach a public lesson, namely, a science review lesson preparing students to sit for the university entrance examination. The entire LS series comprised three trial lessons and 10 meetings spanning 19 days. Teachers’ learning, in terms of development of their PCK-in-discussion, across the entire series of the LS meetings was traced and analyzed. PCK in discussion refers to the collective knowledge base of pedagogical content knowledge developed and distributed among the teacher participants as they engaged in the LS discussions. Factors affecting the development of the PCK-in-discussion were probed through unobtrusive observations of the LS activities and interviews with the teachers. Results show that the resultant PCK-in-discussion was mostly on the knowledge of instructional strategies and representations (59%). Coupled with a serious lack of attention to the knowledge of formative assessment (8%) and the knowledge of students’ understanding derived from evidence collected during classroom observations (6%), this calls into doubt the purpose of the three trial lessons, namely, to collect evidence of student learning to improve the lesson. Further analysis of the PCK-in-discussion in conjunction with the interview data suggests that there was an array of factors affecting the development of the PCK-in-discussion and shaping its final outcome. These factors included (1) teachers’ perceptions of their own roles and responsibilities in the LS, (2) teachers’ perceptions of the purpose(s) of the LS, and (3) Chinese cultural factors such as collectivism and respecting the senior. It is argued that teachers’ concern about face or mianzi, both individual and collective, was always at the back of their mind influencing the PCK-in-discussion in a profound manner. In summary, this study demonstrates the importance of studying teacher learning from the teachers’ perspective. It also sheds light on the aspects specific to the CLS system and areas requiring improvement. Recommendations are made to address these issues so that the value of this highly acclaimed Chinese teacher professional development model at the grass root level can be furthered.