Immersing in Lesson Study in Japan: International Educators Learning Through Cross-Cultural Observation

This study examines how international educators come to understand Lesson Study as a form of professional learning through participation in the Lesson Study Immersion Program in Japan (LSIP-JR). While prior research has documented the impact of Lesson Study on individual teachers’ knowledge and instructional practices, less attention has been paid to how teachers recognize the norms of learning communities and how they conceptualize curriculum and instructional tasks as objects of collective inquiry. Drawing on reflective journals produced by program participants, this study analyzes how these often-implicit dimensions of Lesson Study were interpreted through engagement with Japanese classroom practices and professional learning discourse. The findings suggest that participants did not view research lessons as polished demonstrations but rather as provisional inquiries shaped by uncertainty, shared responsibility, and openness to critique. Such interpretations brought into focus norms that are deeply embedded—and often taken for granted—within the Japanese educational context. In addition, participants came to recognize curriculum materials and instructional tasks not simply as tools for implementation but as shared research objects through which hypotheses about student learning are generated and examined, within both normative and institutional conditions. Rather than presenting Japanese Lesson Study as a model to be replicated, this study clarifies the conditions under which Lesson Study functions as collective inquiry. By making these typically unarticulated elements visible, the study offers a conceptual foundation for teachers and professional development leaders seeking to design and sustain meaningful Lesson Study across diverse educational contexts.