Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction

Item

Title

Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction

Abstract/Description

We examine the distinction between teaching and teachers as it relates to instructional improvement. Drawing from work outside of education on improvement systems and from analyzing the Japanese system of lesson study, we contend that a focus on teaching can shape a coordinated system for improvement whereas a focus on teachers, common in the United States, leads to elements that are uncoordinated and often work against the continuous, steady improvement of classroom teaching. We propose that the concept of systems for improvement and its instantiation in Japanese K?8 education offer opportunities to reexamine U.S. efforts to improve teaching and shift these efforts toward a more promising direction.

Author/creator

Hiebert, James

Stigler, James W.

Date

2017

In publication

Educational Researcher

Volume

46

Issue

4

Pages

169-176

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Reflection/Retrospective

Language

en

Open access/full-text available

en No

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0013-189X

DOI

10.3102/0013189X17711899

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (SAGE Journals)

Citation

Hiebert, J., & Stigler, J. W. (2017). Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction. Educational Researcher, 46(4), 169–176. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17711899

Cited in

Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Problems

Item sets

OB Citations - Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Problems

• Email