Lim Tong Li, Christina

This report highlights the major findings of a two-year CRPP-funded intervention project in which researchers worked closely with a primary school to introduce Lesson Study as a tool for teacher learning and community building. The findings are presented through a survey study of teachers' perception of Lesson Study; two case studies of the knowledge construction and community building processes in two sampled Lesson Study teams, one in English Language and one in Mathematics and a methodological exploration that attempted to represent the instructional improvement in four mathematics research lessons from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. A video case intended to be used as a tool to support teacher development was developed to document the learning of a mathematics topic through the experience of a Lesson Study team. Its components and development process are also illustrated.

Japanese lesson study (LS), jugyu kenkyuu, is becoming an increasingly popular and important model for teacher learning and professional development (PD) worldwide. The spread of lesson study globally as well as in Singapore schools has been phenomenal. In Singapore, it was first introduced in 2004 and is now widely implemented as a tool for promoting professional learning communities (PLCs). This rapid diffusion of lesson study in many educational systems raises questions related to the quality of lesson studies practiced in schools as well as its sustainability, especially with change of school leadership. A national survey and case studies of schools implementing lesson study in Singapore have provided some insights into these issues. The hope is that lesson study will be practiced in the right spirit and substance and not be a passing fad in schools.

This study demonstrates the use of Q methodology as a suitable approach to distinguish salient groups of reflections, giving insights to what the teacher participants prioritize. Revealing priorities may help identify teachers' core concerns, and what practical and professional knowledge could help them in their daily practice. Core concerns of the teacher participants uncovered in this study were: the needs of learners, the nature of mathematics, and activities that are pedagogically appropriate. A discriminating factor among the three profiles had to do with whether the teachers were teaching in primary or secondary schools.

The purpose of the study was to examine the validity of an English translation of the Teacher Metacognition Inventory (TMI) originally developed by Jiang et al. Teaching and Teacher Education, 59, 403-413, (2016) in China with a sample of mathematics teacher in Singapore. A total of 436 valid responses were collected from primary and secondary female and male mathematics teachers with various degrees of experience. This inventory measures teachers’ metacognitive knowledge about self and pedagogy, regulation on planning and monitoring, reflection and experiences. Whereas the original inventory had six dimensions and 28 items, a better fit was found with seven dimensions and 26 items. The extra dimension reflected a split of Teacher Metacognitive Experiences into positive and negative ones. The seven-dimension structure had good reliability and validity. The instrument was also invariant across gender, level (i.e., primary and secondary school teachers) and years of experience. Together, the results suggest that the TMI was an effective instrument and could be used to assess teacher metacognition in educational settings or for teachers to reflect on their metacognition and metacognitive practice, as suggested by the original developers of the scale.

This study attempts to explore the links between research, policy and practice. Specifically, it investigated how teachers enact a national policy on the implementation of formative assessment practices and explored what affects their capacity and will to carry out educational reform. Using a case study approach, formative assessment-related practices of six teachers within three primary schools in Singapore were examined. Findings from interviews, document analysis and classroom observations brought out how teachers reframed policy and implemented instructional practices in terms of what they knew or thought they understood of it. Policy enactment was also found to be influenced by the contextual setting as the schools also played a part in the way these teachers implemented their practices. Drawing on these findings, the study discusses issues pertinent to policy implementation and makes recommendations for policy enactment.

Online teaching and learning for the professional development of workers in service is ever pervasive and continually growing. Yet, studies of learning with technology are mostly conducted in K-12, pre-service, or higher education settings resulting in a lack of attention given to the professional development. In addition, most studies are investigating learners instead of instructors, even though the latter are reportedly struggling in conducting online teaching. One of the struggles instructor faces includes choosing effective technologically enhanced pedagogy that are in line with the learning contents and intents. This study aims to alleviate the issue by investigating online learning in a professional development context, particularly one in a government institution such as the Financial Education and Training Agency (FETA) under the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. By analyzing curriculum documents known as program syllabi of 148 online courses conducted by FETA, informed by a prevailing theory of adopting educational technology known as the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model, the study found the majority of courses were under Substitution category for uses of technology, followed by Modification and Augmentation categories. Redefinition category had the least number of courses. Characteristics of each use of technology are explained in the Findings and Discussion section. It is hoped that the uses of technology explicated in this study will be useful for guiding the practice of crafting a defensible curriculum for online learning in professional development contexts.

The phenomenal spread of Japanese lesson study (LS) beyond Japan is indicative of the perception that the seemingly obvious routines of LS are transferable into foreign contexts. It is, however, to be expected, that various aspects of LS would be adapted to suit the culture of the adopting context. The diverse ways in which LS is adapted across different contexts provides the opportunity for researchers to unpack what needs to be done to better adapt, implement and sustain LS to support teacher development across non-Japanese contexts. This paper is based on the findings from a nation-wide research project undertaken to explore the adaptations made to LS in Singapore schools. Surveys and case studies provided data to examine LS structure and implementation processes in Singapore schools and to investigate school leaders’ and teachers’ experiences and understandings of LS processes. In teasing out the subtle differences among the Singaporean adaptations and Japanese LS, we gleaned a deeper understanding of the cultural and contextual factors that elucidate key features of LS that are pertinent in creating the necessary conditions for effective teacher learning.