Lesson study : Generating, accumulating and sharing professional knowledge

In the McKinsey report, How the World's Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top, (2007) examined 25 school systems worldwide, including the top 10 performing systems, to determine the common factors necessary to improve student performance. The authors conclude that successful schools need to do three things: get the right people to be teachers; get the best out of these teachers and step in when pupils start to lag behind. The focus is on getting the best out of these teachers and the author contends that lesson study, if fully understood, can be a very effective initiative to both improve practice and sustain that improvement. This is illustrated through school-based experiences in the United Kingdom. The author would encourage schools and teachers to consider how they can undertake lesson study in their school, primary or secondary, as it is an immensely powerful way of implementing change and bringing lessons to life with both teachers and students looking forward to their next lesson.