Identification of Challenges and Obstacles of Performing Lesson Study from Teachers’ Perspective (A Phenomenological Study)

Subject Areas : curriculum

Mehri Rezaei ¹ , Gholam Ali Ahmadi ² , Mehdi Davaei ³ , Reza Saki ⁴

1 - PhD Candidate of Curriculum Development, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Tarbiat Dabir Shahid Rajaei University
3 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Teacher Training University of Shahid Rajaee, Tehran

Received: 2023-11-12 Accepted : 2023-11-12 Published : 2023-09-23

Keywords: challenges, Lesson study, teacher experiences,

Abstract :

The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of teachers about the challenges of lesson study. This qualitative study was conducted using the phenomenological method. Data collection was done via semi-structured interviews of 15 teachers who had   experiences about lesson study. The data analyzed following Strabert and Carpenter’s (2003) method. The analysis revealed four main themes including individual, content, organizational, and methodological challenges and also, 19 sub-themes including teachers’ lack of in-depth knowledge of lesson study, low motivation, teachers’ lack of interest in new methods, biased attitude towards lesson study, teachers’ low education, lack of appropriate resources, improper content organization, imitation and copying, non-native content, content theorizing, centralism, lack of facilities, lack of appropriate training in teacher training courses, organizational perspective on lesson study, lack of appropriate tools to operate lesson study, no sympathetic involvement of the teacher, lack of attention to children’s interests, ignoring the child, the use of traditional methods. According to the findings of the study, it can be concluded that without taking into account the challenges related to lesson study, its implementation will not be very effective.