The issue of the “research-practice gap” has been a long-standing concern in the education community. To tackle this issue, there is a growing interest in research–practice partnerships (RPPs) to connect research with practice by providing solutions for improving practice in schools. Although studies have reported that constructive relationship would produce positive outcomes, establishing long-term and mutually beneficial RPPs requires further investigation. In Hong Kong, the Learning Study (LS) approach with Variation Theory derived from phenomenology as the theoretical framework for pedagogical design has been adopted as a RPP model and has sustained for two decades. Like many RPPs models, LS approach has been facing different challenges when teachers are increasingly held accountable for meeting new demands from education reform. In this respect, this paper explores the challenges and strategies of the LS approach as a RPP model and its conditions of success. It reports a case study of how a group of English Language teachers adopting a LS approach while integrating education initiatives in their instructional design. The findings have identified trust building, teacher’s capacity building and visible outcomes as possible key factors of effective RPP model. This paper may shed light on the implementation of research–practice partnerships. Copyright © 2022 National Institute of Education, Singapore.

自教改以來，學校都建立了同儕備課及觀課的專業發展文化，期望教師互相學習、共同成長，然而，研究員發現當備課和觀課恆常化之後，往往流於形式和技術性討論，對於提升學與教質量的效能不彰。研究員嘗試在一所小學的中文科引入課堂學習研究的模式進行備課和觀課，從學習困難難點出發，分析學習內容及設計教學，並進行有系統的觀課、交流和反思，探討課堂學習研究對備課和觀課成效的影響，並認為提升教學滿足感和發展校本教研模式可以成為未來持續發展的關鍵。Since the reform of education, schools have formed a mode of professional development in collaborative lesson preparation and peer lesson observation with the expectation for creating the atmosphere of mutual learning and professional development. However, researchers have found that when lesson preparation and lesson observation become a usual practice in schools, it may hinder the effectiveness of professional development. Researchers attempt to incorporate the lesson study method in Chinese Language lessons to enforce collaborative lesson preparation and peer lesson observation. Based on the perspective of learning difficulties, the research team analyzed the teaching content and lesson plans, and conducted systematic lesson observation, communication and reflection in order to explore the effectiveness of using learning study model in lesson preparation and lesson observation. The team found that enhancing teaching satisfaction and developing a school-based learning study model could be a key to future sustainable development. Copyright © 2020 香港教師中心.

This paper aims to report a case study of exploring the effect of "assessment for learning" on improving student learning and facilitating teachers' professional development in the examination-oriented context of Hong Kong. By adopting Variation Theory of the Lesson Study approach, data were collected through pre- and post-tests, interviews with students and teacher participants and observation field-notes in order to help diagnose students' learning difficulties and provide evidence for teachers to refine their teaching strategies to enhance students' learning effectiveness. The students' improvement in learning performance informed the teacher participants of the usefulness of 'assessment for learning' in the classroom. Copyright © Sage Publications Ltd.

本文透過個案,探討一種教師協作模式-課堂學習研究 (Learning Study) 的實踐共同體 (Community of practice)-如何協助老師解決智障學生學習數學所遇到的困難,從而提升課堂教學的成效。研究發現,課堂學習研究模式,使教師能透過前測及訪談,更具體掌握學習難點及教學焦點,而透過備課、觀課與修訂的教學循環能使教法更殝完善。實踐共同體的安排可使來自不同學校的教師進行跨校協作,有助特殊學校的教師提升教學技巧,並一同創造教學知識。本文建議此種模式可以推廣作為特殊教育老師一種持續專業發展的模式。This paper investigates the extent of a teacher collaborative model, Learning Study, in realizing the Community of Practice in special schools through a case study which helps teachers solve the learning problems of the mentally disabled students in the subject of Mathematics so as to enhance learning and teaching effectiveness. The findings indicate that the Learning Study approach enables teachers identify the learning difficulties and the teaching focal points from the pre-test and pre-lesson student interviews. During the co-planning, lesson observation and revising process of the teaching cycles, the pedagogies are further improved. The cross-school collaboration of the Community of Practice is able to help teachers in special schools enhance their pedagogical skills and create new instructional knowledge. This paper suggests that the collaborative model of Learning Study could be promoted as an approach for the continuing professional development of teachers in special schools.
[Copyright of 香港特殊教育期刊 is the property of 香港特殊教育學會有限公司. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

Learning study has been used to enhance teacher professional development in many cities and countries all over the world, including Hong Kong, Sweden, United Kingdom, Singapore and Brunei. Since Learning Study has been regarded as an effective approach for teacher professional development, it was introduced as a core course in the training programmes for pre-service teachers in the Hong Kong Institute of Education in 2007. This paper explores the impact of learning study on pre-service teacher professional development by looking into an English language learning study conducted by a group of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. It reports how the pre-service teachers learned to teach via participating in Learning Study and discusses what challenges they had encountered in the process. The paper concludes with implications on the further development of learning study and its application in educational programmes for pre- service teachers.

Teachers sometimes limit the opportunities for students to learn because they perceive that their students have limited ability or potential for learning. In this paper, through a case study, we show how teachers taking part in a learning study learnt to cater for students’ individual differences and at the same time, opened up opportunities for students to reach their potential. The learning study took place in special school settings in Hong Kong. Instead of following their former practice which was considered to be tailoring the curriculum to the students’ perceived ability, the group of teachers tried to find a powerful object of learning, such that further learning can be built, leading to a level of learning that they had never dared to try to reach before. The outcome was encouraging and had great impact on the teachers involved.

The Learning Study approach has been developed over ten years by a research team comprising school teachers and academics in Hong Kong. It is a systematic process of enquiry into teaching and learning, employing an action research methodology, and underpinned by the Variation Theory. Under Learning Study, teachers are expected to learn cooperatively and become reflective practitioners by practicing the theories postulated from others. Learning Study can be used to enhance teachers’ pedagogical capabilities and professional development. This paper describes how Learning Study, which initially started as a modest project to find ways to cater for individual differences in main stream schools in Hong Kong, became a powerful tool for schools in achieving these aims. Working in close collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Learning Study developed as a major component of a mentoring system, which resulted in the creation of learning communities in schools, where the focus is on enhancing teaching and learning. Such a system benefits all teachers involved, whether novice or very experienced. Starting with only two schools in 1999, schools in the Learning Study network rapidly expanded to over 200 schools in 2010. The success of Learning Study in Hong Kong will be analyzed under the following factors: its conceptual framework, methodology, partnership with higher education institutions, positioning, reform context and culture, and dissemination strategy and the diffusion process in and across schools. Its potential for moving towards improving the status of the profession as a whole will also be discussed.

This paper reports the effect of Learning Study module on developing the teaching competency of pre-service teachers in Hong Kong. Learning Study module is a research based teacher training course that aims to improve pre-service teachers’ lesson preparation skills and their teaching competency. The module is offered for all Year Two students in the Bachelor of Education programme of the Hong Kong Institute of Education. It comprises a series of lectures, consultation meetings and teaching practices that set the theoretical framework for conducting Learning Study. Activities are organized in such a way that pre-service teachers can practice argumentation, decision making and justification while investigating and solving pedagogical problems. This study aims to validate a theoretical model for exploring the critical successful factors of the Learning Study module for nurturing pre-service teacher’s reflective competency and lesson preparation skills through a quasi-experiment design. 341 preservice teachers took part in a questionnaire survey. A structural equation model was applied to explore the relationships. Lesson analysis, framework for conducting Learning Study, consultation on lesson design and teaching, lesson implementation and peer observation in the teaching practices are identified to be the critical successful factors for developing lesson preparation skills, teaching competency and reflective experiences of the pre-service teachers.

This paper aims to explore whether Learning Study improves teachers' subject content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and attitude toward teaching mathematics. A Learning Study was conducted in a Hong Kong primary school for a research lesson on comparing the size of fractions to explore the new teacher roles.
[Copyright © Korean Society of Mathematical Education].