Collaboration around a shared didactic object: Para-didactic organisation and layered object orientations in Collaborative Lesson Study

This paper analyses collaboration in Collaborative Lesson Study in initial mathematics teacher education through the coordinated networking of the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic and Cultural-Historical Activity Theory. Collaborative Lesson Study is conceptualised as a Study and Research Path within a para-didactic configuration centred on inquiry into students' learning. Collaboration between pre-service teachers and teacher educators is analysed as two intertwined activity systems organised around a shared didactic object. While both groups orient towards students’ learning, the teacher educator activity system is characterised by layered object orientations. The analysis shows that collaboration is structured through coordinated asymmetry. Through networking the two theories, the study develops a conceptual framework that provides a basis for analysing the organisation of collaborative inquiry beyond the specific setting investigated.