A social practice theoretical perspective on teacher collaboration in lesson study

There is a lack of research on how cultural, social and power aspects affect teacher collaboration when teachers adapt lesson study in countries outside East Asia. In this theoretical paper, I address the issue of how to enhance culturally sensitive and power related understandings of such processes of teacher collaboration. I am inspired by social practice theory particularly the concept of Figured Worlds which I supplement with an emerging perspective on teacher participation in social interactions. I propose four potential benefits of this theoretical approach: 1) it offers new theoretical conceptualizations of teacher collaboration when adapting lesson study, 2) it allows a focus on the individual teacher in collaborative processes, 3) it offers rich interpretive descriptions of micro-level interactions, 4) it takes into account also broader cultural, social and power aspects beyond teachers’ local collaborative setting. I exemplify these four benefits by drawing on my colleagues and my longterm research on lesson study in a Danish educational context, and I discuss them in relation to some
of the few culturally sensitive studies on lesson study adaptations in countries outside East Asia.