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BLENDED
FROM GOOD TO GREAT
Interview Peter Dudley
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scale school generated evidence for educational policy development : evidence produced through normal school practices rather than specific research projects Japan suggest that the systematic collection and use of such evidence could help us challenge whimsical policies . Eventually global lesson study practice may even be able to help to provide a framework and a common language that could advance for further evidence-based educational policies . That is one of the things that we are trying to do with WALS . Lesson study focuses on teacher ’ s everyday practice . Why not look at quantitative research with randomized trials and a more solid methodology , can ’ t we learn from that ? Medical model randomised control trials ( RTCs ) have their place . They can help us understand the degree of impact of materials , an intervention or a teaching approach for examples . But they seldom tell us why something ‘ works ’ or how . Before we can have materials , interventions or teaching approached that are ready for such trials we need to evolve and develop them in classrooms . This is the critical stage of Huberman ’ s ‘ tinkering ’ teacher – tweaking practices and trying and tweaking them again and again until they are demonstrably more effective . My belief is that Lesson Study – with its simplicity and deliberate practice – its replicability – is a great model for innovating promising practice knowledge , capturing it , sharing it and passing it on . Once it has been seen to work in small scale lesson studies it may be worth commissioning an RTC . It might however be simpler and just as illuminating to conduct a cross case analysis of the lesson studies and see what that reveals . Talking about policies . Many people feel there is too much focus on cognitive learning goals . How about non-cognitive goals ? Should they have part in the curriculum ? And who is to
decide ? Learning is complex and what motivates us to learn is complex . The world is ever changing . There is a lot of discussion on the curriculum . What should the country be like in 30 years ? What sort of people and society will we want ? We don ’ t ask ourselves these questions often enough . We are dominated by the trends ( from abroad ), and education can be quite politicized . Education is not protected from political change and is often used as lever in political discussions . In Japan , they evolve the curriculum by looking outside what researchers and philosophers say about how we learn and think . They might take on political ideas or introduce new ideas , but will always focus on how it helps student learning . Universities are always involved to do research on this process . That evidence can be used for meta-studies and reviews and identify what parts of the curriculum need change . So essentially , curriculum change is driven from the bottom-up , and then eventually finds its way back top-down . What is required of the school culture for lesson study to succeed ? One of the critical elements of lesson study is group dialogue and discussion in which the group of teachers , by setting themselves some simple protocols , develop an atmosphere where it is safe to disclose areas of professional vulnerability or lack of knowledge . It is essential that people in a LS group don ’ t believe they know everything . In the UK historically there hasn ’ t been a context where it ’ s OK to say you are struggling with something . If you get the protocol right , it provides the context to do just that . We all have a shared goal to help children learn . Not hypothetical children , but real cases gives teachers a strong motivation to find solutions and express struggles . I like to use the term ‘ interthinking ’. The ideas that they build , the model of the lesson , is in a ‘ intermental ’ zone . You don ’ t think about
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