Lesson Study and the construction of capital: empowering children through dialogic engagement: empowering children through dialogic engagement

This paper explores the use of Lesson Study in primary schools in England as a powerful tool for developing teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, and for shaping teaching practices that encourage children’s engagement. Through Lesson Study, a critical space for dialogic engagement is generated, wherein children contribute to, and shape, teaching and teacher learning. Teachers’ perspectives of using Lesson Study were captured using 26 semi-structured interviews and Bourdieu’s notion of capital was used to conceptualise and analyse the impact on children. It is proposed that Lesson Study generates opportunities for teachers to explore relations of power through dialogue between teacher and child.