Implementing Japanese lesson study in a Thai private school: How to build a professional learning community for mathematics teachers

This is a case study of a private elementary school in Thailand initiating an innovative project to transform its math curriculum and instruction.As the Japanese math education standard, approved internationally for its effectiveness in the teachers' continuing professional development, lesson study (LS) and open approach (OA) lessons were selected to apply in Grade-1 math course and program in the school.Through action research, it experimented with, studied, and developed the new math teaching practice.To implement the LS process, an LS team of 4 math teachers was formed with the project manager's supervision as the researcher.This study was qualitative research with two objectives: (1) to study the LS implementation in a Thai elementary school, and (2) to study the potential of the LS to build a professional learning community (PLC) for math teachers in the school.In data collection, the eight key informants were interviewed along with the researcher's observation and document review.The collected data were transcribed, analyzed, triangulated with the content analysis method.In the findings, reported were a management model of early implementing the LS process focused on OA lesson development, as well as the evidence of an LS-built PLC in terms of collaborative learning team for the math teachers in the school.Some key issues about LS and PLC were discussed with a critical theory lens, leading to recommendations to develop and sustain LS and PLC in the school.