Angel Ignacio Pérez Gómez

Lesson study and the development of teacher’s competences

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show, from a theoretical point of view, the promising relationship between the processes generated by Lesson Studies (LS) and the development of practical thinking in in-service teacher training, derived from two pieces of research. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose broadening the focus of LS in order to not only improve the “lesson” or “teaching” – in short, practice – but also to reconstruct and improve the practical knowledge of teachers. The core issue of the paper is the discussion about the relationship between the practical knowledge, the knowledge that every teacher uses in his or her daily practice, theories-in-use, mostly unconscious, and the conscious and explicit knowledge, practical thinking, explicit theory, they use to describe and justify their practice. Findings – Knowing our practical knowledge intuitive Gestalt, and building a new conscious and informed way of thinking is not enough, we need to build through systematic new practi...

The school: a crossroad of cultures

Abstract This article offers an analysis of the different aspects involved in each of the cultures which interact within school space public, academic, social, school and private cultures – the knowledge of which can help to clarify the body of multiple factors which condition the teaching-learning processes often included within the concept of hidden curriculum. School can be regarded as an ecological space where cultures meet and whose specific responsibility is the reflective mediation of those plural influences which different cultures permanently exert over new generations.

Pedagogical potentialities of lesson study for the reconstruction of teachers’ dispositions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to show the relationship between lesson study (LS) and the reconstruction of teacher dispositions (practical knowledge). Design/methodology/approach This work consists of an exhaustive qualitative study, analysis and interpretation of the practical knowledge of an infant school teacher before and after her participation in a training process based on LS. Findings This work offers a response to this resistance to change and to progress in education. It demonstrates the potentiality of LS for the transformation of schools in the twenty-first century and the construction of a reflected, shared, emerging pedagogical capital for teachers. Originality/value The analysis focusses on practical knowledge (knowledge-in-action, (Schon, 1998); implicit theories (Pozo, 2006; Marrero, 2009); phronesis (Kinsella and Pitman, 2012); tacit knowledge (Contreras and Perez de Lara, 2010)) because in accordance with the latest theories deriving from cognitive neuroscience, most of the resources the authors use in their action come from unconscious mechanisms. Hence, the procedures and mechanisms of qualitative research have been used to carry out in-depth analysis through prolonged daily observation of practice under a series of previously established dimensions (knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and emotions).

Cooperative research. A critical strategy in university teacher training. A case study of Lesson and Learning Studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the possibilities offered by Lesson and Learning Studies (LLS) for training and for improving and generating knowledge by reconstructing the practical knowledge of teachers in university training through joint design, observation and reflection. In short, the research aims to show how merging LLS contributes to developing fundamental teaching skills in new, uncertain contexts and to recreating processes of research and analysis of complex situations from critical and creative perspectives by involving university teachers and student teachers in disciplined, informed reflection on their own practice through shared, narrative productions in a dual spiral which promotes the contrasting of experiences and perspectives in an ongoing manner. Design/methodology/approach – A case study of own practice in a university master’s degree, the aim of which is to develop a training improvement process by following the stages of LLS. Findings – The case study shows the ne...