Making Use of the Lesson Study Approach to Secondary Education in Greece — The Contribution to the Professional Development of Teachers

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of the Lesson Study (LS) to the professional development of teachers. The present work, which is part of a broader research effort, was realized from February 12 to April 1, 2016 in the second grade of lyceum in a school in the prefecture of Attica. Initially, all the school’s scholars (4) and 31 students participated. From the results of the survey, regarding the teachers’ perceptions of the contribution of the lesson study to the differentiation of their attitudes and practices for the design of the course and their teaching, all the teacher participants in the research stated that they benefited from the lesson study as far as the subject of their teaching and the foresight of students’ possible questions were concerned. At the same time, it has a positive impact on promoting co-operation and professional development of teachers as a form of training within the school.


Introduction
Professional development of teachers is an important factor in upgrading our education system.The lesson study contributes to the professional development of the teachers within the school by strengthening their cooperation (Lewis & Hurd, 2011).
More specifically, the review of the relevant literature on the use of the lesson study in the professional development of teachers shows that:

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The LS is considered as a very successful method of professional development of the participating teachers as it offers the possibility of continuous professional development and contributes to the upgrading of the educational system (Doig & Groves, 2011).

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The LS can promote the professional development of classroom teachers by building interpersonal relationships and foster motivation to continuously improve their teaching (Fernandez, 2002;Nauerth, 2015;Thompson, 2015;Sirotic, 2015).
• Voluntary and equal participation of teachers is considered a prerequisite for the success of the LS (Lewis & Hurd, 2011).
• LS for young and inexperienced teachers contribute significantly to their professional development (Archer, Pope, Onion, & Wake, 2013).

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The professional development of teachers depends to a large extent on their continuous training (Karras, 2011).
• LS is one of the most appropriate forms of training, as it cultivates collectivity and aims at the full assimilation of innovative theoretical and practical teaching applications.Also, the autonomy it provides teachers with, as well as the time and the way it is implemented, make it effective in-school training (Drenogianni & Primerakis, 2008;Harsono, 2016).
It follows from the above that: a. from the implementation of the lesson study to the classroom, the professional development of the teachers through the collaborative design of teaching is achieved; and b. there is a lack of relevant research on the use of the lesson study in Greek secondary education.This lack of research is intended to be covered in this research.

Lesson Study
The lesson study, which originally appeared in Japan, is a process of improving teaching and learning, not only for students but also for teachers.In its context, participating teachers work together to design a research lesson, the teaching and observation of which serves to collect data on student learning.The use of these data for feedback and redesign of teaching contributes decisively to the improvement of teachers (Stepanek, Appel, Leong, Mangan, & Mitchell, 2007).
In order to implement the LS, teachers devote 10-15 hours in 3-4 weeks (Fernandez, 2002).The lesson study process includes the following phases (Stepanek et al., 2007): 1) setting goals 2) planning the research lesson 3) teaching, observing and data collecting of the research lesson 4) evaluating-feedback and re-teaching

5) reflection -formulation and sharing final results
Setting goals: In the first phase of the LS, teachers work together to form a group of 3-6 people to examine the goals their pupils aspire to conquer.By studying the curriculum and the material to be taught, they detect gaps between these future goals and the existing reality.They are looking for an important subject for students that is either of their interest or learning difficulty, or in a new module that has recently been added to the curriculum.They explore, through brainstorming, in the context of a fruitful dialogue, the strategies and methods of teaching that will direct their students to gain knowledge of the subject (Lewis & Hurd, 2011).

Planning the research lesson:
Teachers choose a unit from the curriculum and cooperatively plan a research lesson in detail.This lesson will realize the goals, the learning and the development of the pupils, and especially not what they will learn, but mainly how they will learn.At this stage, teachers spend enough time to organize the teaching together.They shape the learning path they follow, predict the expected questions of their students and prepare a data collection plan.During these meetings, observations and suggestions for improvement of the teaching plan are made.At the end of this phase, a written analytical teaching plan emerges, which the group is asked to implement in the classroom (Rekalidou, 2012;Lewis & Hurd, 2011).
Teaching, observing and data collecting of the research lesson: The research lesson is conducted, with one member of the team teaching and the rest observing and collecting data on the teaching and the acquisition of knowledge by students.These data are used in evaluation-feedback (Rekalidou, 2012;Stepanek et al., 2007).
Evaluating-feedback and re-teaching: In the evaluation, teachers thoroughly analyze the data gathered during the research lesson.The purpose of the assessment is not to critique the teacher's way of teaching, but to draw valuable conclusions on the design of the lesson and, therefore, to improve the learning of students and teachers.Applying improvements can mark the end of the lesson study phases or redesign the same lesson or conduct another lesson study with a different teaching theme.If re-designing is appropriate in the context of the evaluation-feedback process, due to wrong, oral or written, answers in the students' worksheets, it is implemented in another part of the same class by another teacher of the same group (Rekalidou, 2012;Stepanek et al., 2007).
Reflection-formulation and sharing final results: The process of the lesson study ends with the reflection, formulation and recording of the final conclusions.The written formulation of the conclusions is carried out through interactive discussion and joint analysis of the data and results of the research lesson.These conclusions can be used and applied by other teachers interested in implementing the LS (Stepanek et al., 2007).

Professional Development of Teachers
Teachers during their careers are required to continuously develop the necessary knowledge and skills to perform their teaching duties more fully.Professional development is directly dependent on collaboration, effective communication and exchange of views among teachers, exploring their particular teaching needs and concerns.This fruitful interaction can take place in formal procedures, such as educational seminars, conferences, but also atypical, such as reading educational articles and participating in informal groups and networks of cooperation (Doukas, Vavourakis, Thomopoulou, Koutra, & Smyrnitopoulou, 2007).Professional development of teachers is also achieved through self-evaluation.Achieving this goal creates feelings of professional satisfaction, which have a positive effect on student performance (Gabrela, 2014).
On the contrary, the difficulties in the professional development of teachers come mainly from the centralized Greek educational system.The lack of appropriate training programs for the adoption of new teaching practices and innovations has an inhibiting effect on their development (Doukas et al., 2007).The teacher is invited to upgrade his / her educational work with the active participation and implementation of new educational practices, which he / she is not familiar with.Also, the lack of incentives and homogeneity of the school's teachers regarding the subject, experience and permanence hinders their development (Gabrela, 2014).
Tackling difficulties and promoting professional development of teachers can make a significant contribution to upgrading the school's educational work.

Purpose and Research Questions
The main purpose of this paper is to explore the contribution of collaborative teaching design in the context of the implementation of the LS to the professional development of teachers.In particular, the task is to investigate: a. Teachers' views on the contribution of the LS to the improvement of their abilities in teaching on concrete teaching theme and teaching and b. the degree of differentiation of attitudes and practices of participants as far as research in course design is concerned and teaching as a result of their participation in the LS.
The individual research questions that the research will attempt to answer are: 1st: To what extent do the participants in the research consider that their attitudes and practices towards lesson design and teaching have changed as a result of their participation in the lesson study?
2nd: To what extent do the participants in the research believe that they have gained specific benefits in terms of the particular subject and its teaching from the lesson study?

The Method
This paper presents a part of the results of a broader research, which took place in a lyceum in Eastern Attica from February 12th to April 1, 2016.In the framework of the research, the approach of the LS for the teaching of the Literature course was applied.The director and, initially, all the school's scholars (4) participated, but then one left.
Both two parts of the 2nd lyceum were involved.The first consists of sixteen ( 16) students as a team of experimentation and the second of fifteen (15) as a control group.Teachers' meetings were conducted, with few exceptions, due to force majeure, on a regular weekly basis within the school hours, and their participation was voluntary.
As data-gathering tools transcripts of participant teachers in the lesson study and teaching (traditional and research lessons) were used.Also, calendars that were complied with at the time of the lesson study by the facilitator and the recorder of the team were used as data, as well as the protocols for design, observation, reflection and revision of the research lesson.Another source was also the questionnaire completed by the teachers.This questionnaire mainly included closed and open-ended questions.Closed type questions included three axes.
In the present work and in order to achieve its objectives and answer its research questions, qualitative and quantitative data have been used.More specifically, the results of the third axes of this questionnaire are presented, the six criteria of which focused on the application and learning of the participating teachers from the lesson study.Data from the teachers' meeting after the research lesson are also presented.Teachers' benefits from their involvement in it, as well as the possibility of exploiting the positive effects of applying the LS to their teaching, were examined.

Results of the Survey
Recorded meetings and teachings, traditional and research lessons were transcribed in digital form as text files (Creswell, 2011).Subsequently, these files were imported into a computer program for qualitative data analysis, the Atlas.ti, to analyze their content by editing and encoding them, i.e. dividing the texts into parts by giving them a title.These titles were grouped and combined with other research data sources which were then categorized into several fields that are directly related to research questions.The results and main findings of the research are as follows:

Differentiating teachers' attitudes and practices in terms of course design and teaching
The professional improvement of teachers, as recorded in the third axis of the questionnaire entitled "Applying and learning from the LS", emerged through their answers to the following criteria: In the first criterion: I have gained specific benefits in terms of teaching subject and teaching from the lesson study, 100% responded they agreed.
In the second criterion: I was able to apply these benefits to my teaching, 50% said they agreed and the remaining 50% responded them totally agreed.
In the third: I have a different view of my course design and teaching as a result of my participation in the lesson study, 50% responded that they agree and the remaining 50% responded that they fully agree.
In the fourth: I choose more carefully the teaching material and the questions as a result of the LS, 50% answered that neither agrees nor disagrees, and the remaining 50% responded that it totally agrees.
In the fifth: I anticipate and better comprehend students' understanding as a result of the LS, 100% responded that they agreed.
In the sixth: LS helped me become a better professor, 100% responded that they fully agree.
Figure 1.Bar-graph of teachers' answers on the effect of the lesson study on their professional development

Teacher's views on the contribution of the lesson study so as to improve their teaching skills
The professional development of the participating teachers was also highlighted in the meeting after the research lesson, as shown in the following quote: Professor that while many teachers carefully choose their teaching material, they lag behind in the way they teach when they do not adopt new ways of spreading knowledge and innovative educational methods.In addition, this finding implies that the lesson study contributes to the reflection and development of a professional interaction and cooperation (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1995;Allan, 2015;Fujii, 2016), to the adoption of a research attitude by teachers regarding their practice, as well as to the empowerment of professionalism of all participants, through understanding and recognizing the complexity of teaching by sharing common practical knowledge, exchanging information and teaching techniques and objectives (Peterson, 2000).In this sense, the reflection of teaching becomes a critical pedagogical frame of reference and consequently the terms associated with it are often terms such as "critical awareness", "empowerment", "qualitative development", "self-action", "autonomy" and "improvement" (Altrichter & Specht, 1998).
Also, given the fact that the teacher culture includes a very strong standard of teaching privacy, which impedes the professional development of teachers (Shulman, 1993, op. Cit., Chism, 1999), the finding shows that in the context of implementation of the lesson study teachers can exercise constructive criticism on their colleagues, especially when the aim is to improve the quality of teaching (Keig, 2000;Kerchner, Koppich, & Weeres, 1997, as reported by Anderson & Pellicer, 2001).But also with colleagues' evaluation, teaching becomes "property" of the entire teaching staff, and so everyone is aware of the problem situations, of the pros and cons of the specific teaching approaches, of the results of didactic experiments, or solutions that other colleagues have given on important student learning issues, thus making teaching very important to leave to individual experimentation and learning through trial and error (Chism, 1999).In addition, this result means that the teacher through participating in a group of colleagues can better achieve the goal of improving the effectiveness of teaching if he relies on the reflection and feedback he can get from his group of colleagues, which provides a supportive environment in which everyone feels that he learns and continually improves (Barkley & Cohn, 1999).

Conclusions
All survey participants stated that they benefited from the LS on the subject of their teaching and on predicting students' potential questions.The enrichment of the research lesson with the contribution of the group's knowledge, experience, proposals and different perspectives promotes their professional advancement.These collective processes, which are encouraged through the implementation of the LS, promote the level of knowledge of the participating teachers as well as their professional development.
Finally, the collaboration and the fruitful exchange of views, ideas, arguments and teaching techniques, according to the opinions of all teachers, broadened their knowledge and promoted their professional development.This development was directed by themselves, with their voluntary participation and worked as a form of training within the school unit.
In spite of the positive results from the use of the LS in enhancing student learning, there are some limitations that should be mentioned.The sample of the survey was relatively small.Using a larger sample would increase the credibility of the survey.There were also time constraints on the implementation of the survey, which did not allow for longer duration.Finally, the present research was conducted only in the teaching of Literature in secondary school students.Besides, the choice of the research method, which was based on qualitative analysis, is not intended to generalize the findings.
From the work constraints, the proposals for further research, which could focus on the following axes, arise.Future studies could examine the effectiveness of the lesson study in teaching other subject matter in pupils of smaller and/or older classes.Future surveys could also use a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches and, in particular, conduct personal interviews with students, teachers and educators.Still, the conditions for creating and expanding a communication network between the different schools units participating in the lesson study is another research proposal to make use of.In addition, the creation of a quality assurance system for lesson study to avoid its superficial application in the Greek education system could be another proposal for further research.Finally, a comparison of the results of applying the lesson study to Greek in comparison with other corresponding European and international education systems could be another proposal for further study.