Training Lesson Study Kindergarten Teachers at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
Under the name ‘Pelatihan Lesson Study untuk Guru Taman Kanak-Kanak Kota Bandung’ the Educational Psychology department of the Graduate School of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) organized a training Lesson Study for kindergarten teachers in the area of Bandung city on Friday 4 October 2019. The head of the department, Dr. Tina Hayati Dahlan invited six teams of teachers from Islamic and public kindergartens to learn more about Lesson Study and how they could apply it as professional development. In total 24 kindergarten teachers were present at 07.30 am! They were very enthusiastic and worked tirelessly on the design of their lesson plans.
In the morning a presentation was given on Lesson Study and the different models of Lesson Study in the world, e.g., the US model, the UK model and the Dutch model. In the training the teachers worked with the Lesson Study handbook for Early Childhood Education (ECE).
The handbook of Lesson Study UK for Early Years was translated into Bahasa Indonesia by six post graduate students who worked on this diligently during the week prior to the training.
The teachers also received information about recent developments in ECE, which they could use in the design of their lesson planning. Three developments were described, e.g. 1) the characteristics of a play-based curriculum, 2) dialogic talk in the classroom, and 3) the use of materials according to the affordances theory.
After a nice Indonesian lunch, the teachers split up in their school teams and formulated the focus of their Lesson Study based on an already developed lesson plan and their concerns about their young children. For example, how can we as a teacher team teach our children how to differentiate between a vowel and a consonant?
Then they designated roles to their team members, and they chose what theory they were going to use as a knowledge base for their research lesson. After that the research lesson was designed carefully into a Lesson Study Plan, following the guidelines of the LSUK Handbook. All teachers chose one research lesson, and this research lesson was simulated and taught at the end of the day to all teachers.
The training was delivered by Dr. Sui Lin Goei of VU Amsterdam and Windesheim University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands) and by Dr. Tina Hayati Dahlan of UPI (Indonesia). Dr. Goei worked as a visiting professor at UPI for four weeks and taught the course Educational Psychology in Education to the post graduate students of Educational Psychology.
Thanks to the post graduate students for translating the handbook: Astari Mirisya, Layya Mutia Miranda, Azka Khoirun Nisa, Ridha Fauzia Rimuna, Gilang Rizkia Aditia, and Raissa Aliva M.Effendi.
This handbook is now available on the LSUK website
Sui Lin Goei & Tina Hayati Dahlan
Indonesia, Bandung