One way of doing this is through regular Lesson Study lessons.
Lesson Study, stemming from practice over many decades in Japan, is a highly specified form of classroom action research focusing on the development of teacher practice knowledge. It involves groups of teachers collaboratively planning, teaching, observing and analysing learning and teaching in specified sessions. Essentially, Lesson Study provides a way of looking in detail at something teachers want to try out in a lesson series – this can be an approach (e.g. sustained shared thinking) or a specific learning goal (e.g. introducing numeracy concepts). Taking influence from this process we recommend that you partner with at least one colleague and work with them to observe each other and offer critical reflections upon the approaches taken. It is crucial that you work with somebody who you can trust and that you agree how you will work together respectfully. This isn’t supposed to be stressful but rather offer an insight into how you are working and how the children are experiencing interactions with you.
Extension
You may wish to develop this approach across your setting or, in order to share innovations and developments more widely, work with other settings.
