Lesson study as teacher development strategy: a case study of primary schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Almadi, Maged Saad O. (2022) Lesson study as teacher development strategy: a case study of primary schools in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This mixed-methods case study investigated the perspectives of teachers (T) and school leaders (SL) regarding the impact of Lesson Study (LS) as a school-based strategy for teacher professional development in KSA. Specifically, the study explored how the model helps in enhancing the content knowledge (CK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and building a collaborative learning community based on the views of teachers and school leaders. Overall, a total of 54 participants including 50 teachers (25 males and 25 females) and 4 school leaders took part in this research study. More specifically, 50 teachers answered the questionnaires and 12 out of them were interviewed in addition to 4 school leaders (2 males and 2 females). The five key research questions which guided the study focused on examining primary school teachers and school leaders’ perceptions of the impact of LS on developing content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of Maths, Science and Arabic. In addition, the perceived influence of LS on school-based collaborative learning communities, the perceived benefits of implementing LS and perceived challenges to implementation in primary school context were closely investigated.

Literature pertaining to teacher professional development (PD) and LS was reviewed. Data from questionnaires for teachers and interviews with both teachers and school leaders were examined both quantitatively and qualitatively to define common categories, themes, and connections to each of the research questions. The findings indicated that teachers and their school leaders believed that the participation of teachers in LS model can enhance teachers' CK, PCK, and can build a collaborative learning community which leads to breaking the culture of isolation in the school. This study examined the benefits and challenges while participating in LS. The findings suggested that the most frequently cited benefits were obtained by improving teacher performance as a result of participating in LS, improving student outcomes, ability to link daily teaching practices to long term objectives, and changes in motivation and a sense of effectiveness. The major challenges were the scheduling of meeting times, insufficient training of teachers ahead of implementing LS, insufficient understanding of LS by some teachers, the lack of sufficient support and resources that enable high-quality implementation of LS, teachers lacking CK when implementing LS, the lack of long-term vision for the implementation of LS, teachers’ lack of PCK when implementing LS as well as the existence of negative attitudes about LS among some teachers. In summary, the findings in this study suggested that LS was an effective model of professional development for teachers as LS helped them become better and more informed teachers. Recommendations were suggested to address the identified challenges.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: McMahon, Professor Margery Ann, Morrison-Love, Dr. David and Proudfoot, Dr. Kevin
• Date of Award: 2022
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2022-83287
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 01 Dec 2022 12:31
• Last Modified: 13 Dec 2022 12:21
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.83287
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/83287