Saratha Sithamparam is a former associate professor at Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Brunei. A unique feature of this book is its focus on engaging teachers themselves in changing teaching as a way to bring about teacher change through lesson study and learning study. The sequence -changing teaching, changing teachers -is significant. This approach to professional development is not about telling teachers what and how they should teach to bring about change in their students' learning outcomes.

more »

... It is about empowering teachers to make their own decisions about what needs to change. Empowering teachers in this way has been identified as the 'soul' of Japanese lesson study (Cheng, 2019) . It is the soul which can so easily be compromised when lesson study is adopted and -inevitably it seemsadapted in new contexts around the globe. Without teacher empowerment, topdown curriculum development is almost bound to fail. In presenting the cases of collaborative professional development included in this book, care has been taken to include the teachers' voices. They are intended to be the subjects and not the objects of our research into teachers' professional development. This series aims to provide opportunities for researchers and practitioners in Lesson Study to share their work beyond the boundaries of their countries to an international audience. Lesson Study is increasingly popular as a tool for improving the quality of education and schools around the world. As many countries are adapting and contextualizing Japanese Lesson Study to their own needs in response to educational and curriculum reforms cognizant that what matters most is what happens in classrooms and its impact on teachers and students. As Lesson Study originates from Japan, there is also a need for English Language readers around the world to understand more deeply the underlying philosophies, policies and practices of Japanese Lesson Study in the cultural contexts of their schools and classrooms. As well as original works in English from leading figures in Lesson Study, this series will also make available outstanding Lesson Study publications originally written in Japanese but extended and revised for an English audience.