Implementing Lesson Study for special education professionals

Abstract

Post-school outcomes for people with special needs (PSN) are generally reported in the literature to include low levels of both employment success and quality of life. The challenges in special education encompass teaching children with diverse needs who require an individualised education program (IEP) for meaningful and effective intervention to occur. The rich tacit knowledge, experiential learning, and professional skills of special educators developed through extensive time spent interacting with children with diverse needs should be shared to empower all special educators, allowing benefits from their collective perspectives, experiences, and expertise within the actual context of the school in which they teach. Lesson Study, a professional development practice in which teachers collaborate with one another to develop, teach, and observe a lesson, allows such empowerment, harnessing limited time and resources to better help children with diverse needs. However, actual implementation involves overcoming challenges related to changing core attitudes and ways of working, which are also faced in business corporations. This chapter explores how special education school management in Singapore could implement Lesson Study through use and adaptation of Kotter’s 'Eight steps to transforming your organisation'.