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Education transfer and efforts to learn from “best practices” in other countries are ever active under the global education reform efforts of the 2000s. However, there are issues involving such education transfer. When foreign theory, pedagogy, and professional development were imported/exported to another country, the result did not turn out to be what was expected. Since pedagogic practice is socially constructed, the meaning of “best practice” is context-dependent. The best practice in one setting may not be meaningful in another setting. In this chapter, I discuss this gap in education transfer as the issue of “recontextualization.” Two levels of recontextualization are investigated: (1) the translation of policy into practice and (2) the transfer of pedagogy from one sociocultural (school) setting to another. This chapter sets the background for the challenges of pedagogic transfer and lay foundation for the subsequent chapters where the sociological analysis of lesson study will be discussed.

DOI： 10.1007/978-981-19-5928-8_1

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In this chapter, I will examine the “recontextualization” of lesson study by comparing the practice in Japan and Java against the respective countries’ contextual settings. I examine recontextualization of lesson study specifically focusing on three contextual differences: (1) professional accountabilities, (2) nature of collegiality, and (3) professional expertise. Since teaching is socially constructed and context-dependent, lesson study in Java was interpreted differently from Japan. In Japan, teachers share an interest in educating students and collegial support is essential in organizing student activities. Lesson study aligns with this responsibility to facilitate student activities. In contrast, the SMP Sari teachers were accountable for presenting the curriculum but not necessarily facilitating student learning. Consequently, the interest to embody pedagogic skills to support learning was not shared among teachers. Thus, lesson study at SMP Sari was implemented as a bureaucratic project where teachers extensively prepared and introduced lesson study protocols. The concept of recontextualization revealed how meaningful practice in one context could be seen as ineffective in another.

DOI： 10.1007/978-981-19-5928-8_8

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This chapter discusses teacher community at a Javanese junior high school and how their professional responsibilities are structured in relation to institutional setting. The analysis is based on the premise that professional responsibilities of teachers differ across contextual settings. In daily school activities, teachers were accountable for various responsibilities. At SMP Sari, the teacher community was referred to as “family” and professional accountabilities were embedded as family responsibilities. Family signified not only interdependent relationship among teachers but it obligated teachers to prioritize collective interests of community members. This familism system facilitated teachers to carry out school programs, and at the same time, stretched the bureaucratic regulation to enjoy a relaxing and harmonious working environment. However, teaching responsibility was not structured as the school program or collective responsibility. In fact, the collectivistic and hierarchical organizational setting worked negatively toward teachers to pursue their professional interest. Using the sociological concept of “Coping Strategies” (Hargreaves, 2010), I discuss how teachers negotiated various professional responsibilities within the familism system of SMP Sari.

DOI： 10.1007/978-981-19-5928-8_5

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This chapter explores the teaching practice of teachers within the institutional setting of SMP Sari. Their practice showed that teaching was regulated by the bureaucratic obligation to teach the curriculum for the national exam preparation. While teachers described “good teachers” as those who support student learning, the teachers admitted such teacher was rare at SMP Sari. The majority of teachers taught didactically with minimum intervention to students. I examined the practice of teachers using the sociological concepts. Borrowing from the concept of Zone of Proximal Development by Vygotsky (Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University Press, 1978), I distinguished the practice of majority of teachers and “good” teachers. Then, I recontextualized the concept of pedagogic discourse by Bernstein (The structuring of pedagogic discourse, Volume, IV: class, codes and control, Volume, IV, Routledge, 1990; Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity. Theory, research, critique, Taylor & Francis, 1996) and presented how teachers were held accountable for what they teach but not necessarily how they teach at SMP Sari. At last, I showed how teachers legitimatized their professional expertise in relation to the institutional culture borrowing the Mode of Authority Strategy by Dowling (Sociology as method, Sense, 2009). It showed bureaucratic organizational structure worked negatively and discouraged teachers to embody professional expertise in teaching.

DOI： 10.1007/978-981-19-5928-8_6

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This chapter discusses the issues and challenges of teacher professional development and education quality improvement initiatives in Indonesia. Indonesian education reform presents one exemplary case of global education reform and education transfer—its reform initiatives have been influenced by foreign educational theory, policy, and pedagogy. With the support of international donor agencies, the “best practices” of Western nations were transferred to improve the quality of education. However, evidence showed that these efforts did not lead to an improvement in teaching or student performance. The past studies on teacher development indicated there was a discrepancy between policy and practice; however, the process of its pedagogic transformation—what actually took place at the school level—continues to be a black box. This study employs a sociological approach and provides a context-specific examination of teachers’ practice embedded within the web of social relations. The advantages of such sociological analysis are discussed as well as an overview of the history of lesson study in Indonesia, a description of the research setting, and research methodology.

DOI： 10.1007/978-981-19-5928-8_4

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Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Oxford University Press  

<p>Lesson study (<italic>jyugyo kenkyu</italic>) is an approach to professional development that originated in Japan 150 years ago. It was first introduced to the United States in the late 1990s and is now widely practiced in over 50 countries. Lesson study is often perceived as an effective form of professional development aiming to improve mathematics and science instruction, motivated by the high performances of Japanese students as evaluated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). However, lesson study is more than a model for professional development. Lesson study has developed dynamically over time, accommodating educational contexts and the needs of practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. Nowadays, lesson study is used as an approach to lesson analysis, curriculum development, practice-oriented research, demonstration lessons, and various forms and levels of professional development. Lesson study continues to be practiced in the early 21st century as the practice is socially constructed and context-dependent; thus, lesson study is flexible in adapting to the local system.</p>
<p>This flexibility and adaptability make it difficult to grasp the comprehensive picture of lesson study. Understanding the unique Japanese educational contexts that have supported lesson study is essential for foreign practitioners and researchers of lesson study as the lack of the necessary supporting conditions often poses challenges for implementing lesson study abroad. Lesson study continues to exist in the early 21st century as it has been facilitated by sociocultural norms in a Japanese educational context and has built upon the professional traditions of Japanese teachers. The focus is on discussing the sociocultural contexts that have supported the dynamic development of lesson study since the late 19th century. For this purpose, “sociocultural” refers to the theoretical space of social relations and cultural practice (Dowling, 2009). For example, a collaborative school culture is not a fixed state or end-product but negotiated through the social relations of the school system that regulates the daily responsibilities, actions, and interactions among managers, teachers, and students around the shared goals.</p>
<p>Lesson study has developed under the influence of various factors, including educational theories, approaches, and ideologies, both domestically and abroad. Lesson study is supported by a holistic approach in terms of many aspects such as student learning, teacher-initiated inquiry centered on student learning, the culture of collaboration in professional development, collaboration between teachers and researchers, personal, contextual, and narrative reflection on teaching experience, and flexibility in the learning system that works to address the needs of the educational issues of the time. Nonetheless, contesting forces have contributed to the diversification of lesson study: (a) policymakers’ efforts to standardize lessons and bottom-up initiatives of teachers to experiment with practice; (b) top-down efforts to institutionalize professional development and bottom-up efforts on the part of teachers to work together to realize their educational ideals; and (c) scientific investigation by researchers and narrative, descriptive and subjective reflections on practice by teachers.</p>

DOI： 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1216

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Publishing type：Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：Japanese Educational Research Association  

<p> This study examines issues in pedagogic transfer by exploring the "recontextualization" of lesson study (LS) in an Indonesian junior high school. While LS was introduced as a best practice motivated by global educational reform, foreign implementation faced challenges. Teachers interpret educational innovations in the local context; thus, their meanings fluctuate from setting to setting. Therefore, the study problematizes the issues of education transfer and examines gaps in policy and practice as an issue of "recontextualization." Based on fieldwork and data analysis using the grounded theory approach, the study provides sociological analysis on the institutional regulation of teachers' practice.</p><p> First, the study examined the professional accountabilities of teachers at SMP Sari and presented how they prioritized the collective interest of the teacher community. Teachers were collectively held accountable for the bureaucratic responsibility of carrying out school programs and the social responsibility of protecting social harmony. Both responsibilities encouraged teachers to conform to the social norms and discouraged them from acting autonomously.</p><p> Then, using Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse, the study analyzed the institutional regulation of teachers' pedagogic choices. In pedagogic discourse, instructional discourse (ID), which concerns the content of instruction, is embedded in regulative discourse (RD), which concerns the social order of classrooms. Javanese teachers identified their teaching responsibility as the transmission of the state-designated curriculum for exam preparation. Thus, they used didactic methods and intervened minimally in student learning. This suggests that bureaucratic accountability strongly regulated teachers' practice in terms of ID (what to teach) but not RD (how to teach).</p><p> Finally, the study examined two issues of the recontextualization of lesson study. The continuities/discontinuities between daily teaching and teaching in LS at SMP Sari were examined as the first issue of recontextualization. While the purpose, methods, and activities differed in LS from those of daily practice, there was consistency in how teachers interacted with students. Although teachers introduced group activities, they instructed in one way and did not provide scaffolding. The content of the post-lesson discussion concentrated on the effectiveness of teacher instruction, and there was no discussion on how students learned. A comparison of educational settings in Japan and Java was analyzed as the second issue of recontextualization. The study examined different understandings in professional accountabilities, teachers' responsibilities for students' learning, and the nature of collegiality in Java and Japan. In the Javanese setting, LS functioned as a teacher evaluation, whereas in Japan, it functioned as a place to share and understand student learning.</p><p> These issues of recontextualization raised an important point: professional accountabilities are socially constructed, and teachers' pedagogic concerns and choices were influenced by a shared understanding of what constitutes their professional responsibilities. In introducing LS, efforts to fill contextual gaps and to hold teachers accountable for how to teach (RD)—especially to motivate teachers for scaffolding—were needed. The discussion also includes the implications of recontextualization in pedagogic transfer for Japanese schools.</p>

DOI： 10.11555/kyoiku.88.2_259

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Authorship：Lead author   Publishing type：Research paper (bulletin of university, research institution)  

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Language：English   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)   Publisher：MDPI  

This study examined the curriculums and implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in upper secondary schools in Japan and Sweden and examined and compared the policies and cases of ESD practice. The comparison showed that ESD is present in the national curriculums of both countries, but is emphasized differently. In Sweden, it is more a matter of mentioning ESD as part of the principles that guide education, while in Japan, the integration of ESD into the subject syllabus is emphasized. The schools visited strove to implement ESD in their work. ESD is not an exclusive approach in addition to other school activities, but rather a central part of the schools' work. Many issues are included under the umbrella of ESD, not only environmental issues. International contacts are one of the most important elements of the work, but this does not exclude local engagement. In fact, the schools have established impressive networks. Project work is an important approach in supporting students' learning about sustainable development. A prerequisite for the successful work of the schools, which all have a certain reputation in the field of ESD, is the dedication of the teachers and the equally dedicated principals who support the work.

DOI： 10.3390/su12031123

Web of Science

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Language：Japanese   Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

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DOI： 10.1142/9789813232679_0009

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DOI： 10.1142/9789813232679_0019

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Language：Japanese   Publisher：Japan Comparative Education Society  

DOI： 10.5998/jces.2018.56_186

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Publishing type：Research paper (scientific journal)  

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Total pages：viii, 286p   Language：Japanese

CiNii Books

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Total pages：iv, 284p   Language：Japanese

CiNii Books

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