Professional Collaboration among Elementary School Teachers in Lesson Study

Professional teacher collaboration, a fundamental characteristic of lesson study, has been pointed out as a principle of teacher personal and professional growth. This article aims to describe and analyze the development of professional collaboration in a lesson study, highlighting the main stages of this process. The investigation involved six elementary school teachers of Brazilian public schools, in planning, observing, and reflecting on a lesson on the curriculum topic of length measure at grade 4. The participants worked collaboratively planning a lesson about this topic. The methodology is qualitative, with data collected by records and field notes of sessions, conversations, and interviews. The analyses pointed out three remarkable stages of the development of professional collaboration, which constituted the categories of analysis: recognition of collaboration, development of collaboration, and valuing collaboration. The results show that the professional collaboration that developed during the lesson study was facilitated by the dynamics of the different steps of this process and, especially, by the relationship between participants and teacher educators. Collaboration emerged from the activities of planning, teaching, observing, and reflecting on the lesson, and was valued given the encouragement and strengthening of the group insofar as teachers felt confident, encouraged, and welcomed in the group.