Lesson study in Switzerland: From research to dissemination … and back

Abstract

This contribution aims to critically evaluate the current state and future/planned progress of LS in Switzerland, specifically focusing on the efforts made by three university teacher education institutions across different regions of the country. The evaluation considers both research advancements as well as descriptive analysis of the implementation of various LS projects and their impact on teachers' initial and continuous professional development. First, the result of a literature review will be presented to establish the LS research situation in Switzerland. In a second step, data collection conducted at the three teacher education universities, partly supplemented by interviews with key stakeholders involved in LS development across the respective regions, will be presented to zoom in how individual researchers implement LS in various Swiss contexts. This panorama will show that LS in Switzerland has reached many progresses in terms of research. It also has spread in some neighbouring countries. Nevertheless, from the sustainability of the LS process, LS is still in its infancy. Some unfavourable factors are due to the cantonal and versatile structure of the Swiss education system.