A successful 2nd International Seminar 2024 organised by Collaborative Lesson Study Malta

February 16, 2024 WALS Admin

On Saturday 3rd February 2024, Collaborative Lesson Study Malta (CLeStuM) held its second international seminar with the theme ‘Learning to Lead Lesson Study’. This seminar, which attracted over 80 attendees from 12 different countries that included Brunei, Croatia, Cyprus, England, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Switzerland and Turkey, focused on the learning to lead lesson study experiences of eleven postgraduate students reading for the Leading Lesson Study course within the MA in Educational Leadership and Management programme offered by the Faculty of Education at the University of Malta. The 3.5-hour seminar included an opening speech by Prof. Colin Calleja, the Dean of the Faculty of Education, two keynote speeches, eleven student presentations and five Q&A sessions.

The opening keynote entitled ‘Training Middle Leaders to Lead Lesson Study: The experiences of novice facilitators’ was delivered by Vincent Andrew, a lead facilitator at the Teachers Unit in the Brunei Darussalam Leadership and Teacher Academy. The closing keynote, delivered by Steven Mannens who is the founder of ‘Lesson Study Vlaanderen’ and an educational advisor and lecturer in school development at Odisee University of Applied Sciences in Brussels, focused on ‘Lesson Study Facilitators’ Common Pitfalls’.

The student presentations, which highlighted their learning to lead lesson study experiences in local schools, were organised under three key themes:

Theme 1: task design and development, and the involvement of knowledgeable others,

Theme 2: learning opportunities and challenges in planning the research lesson, and

Theme 3: the role and involvement of the school leadership team in lesson study.

Dr. James Calleja (the MA in Educational Leadership and Management course coordinator and leader of CLeStuM) and Ms. Laura Formosa (one of the course lecturers and an assistant head of school) were the conveners of this seminar. The conveners of this seminar appreciate the ongoing support received from colleagues at the Faculty of Education, Collaborative Lesson Study Malta and the World Association of Lesson Studies. At the end of the seminar, presenters and attendees were given a certificate for their contributions and participation.