Explanation lesson study for strategic planning

Lesson study enjoys dramatic success in international evaluations among various methods which have been applied in the early 21st century to improve and modify learning and teaching in different countries; For this reason, it has been considered by education experts. Lesson study is a relatively new approach which has succeeded very much in teaching design and this subject it has education brokers in many countries to think about improving the quality of lesson classes through it. On the other hand, giving specific attention to teaching environment is necessary to maintain and gain access to the development and growth. The environment of every organization is composed of elements and factors which have both direct and indirect influence on the organization. Strategic planning identifies internal strengths and weakness as well as environmental opportunities and threats through investigating internal and external environment of the organization; and by considering the mission of the organization, it sets long-term purposes for the organizations and for access to this purposes,  in choosing strategies from strategic options to remove the weaknesses and avoid threats through emphasizing on the strengths and employing the opportunities to takes measure  it cause organization success in case of performing correctly. The purpose of the present study was to analyze strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the lesson study in order to remove these weaknesses and threats by employing strengths and opportunities through identifying these points to create the opportunities to develop efficacy and effectiveness in lesson study more than before and take effective step in domestication of this plan through effective strategic priorities. 

The research method of the present study was mixture method (qualitative-quantitative) and it was carried out in primary schools of Qom province. The statistical population included all the experts in lesson study plan in the province of Qom (40 people) including secretariat members and strategic lesson study committee (judges, supervisors and experts) and also those capable people in lesson study teams who have participated at least three times in the festival and got some ranks there and investigated the experts’ views through purposive sampling method in judgmental and snowball type. 14 experts (6 female and 8 male) were interviewed. There was no new information after interviewing with the twelfth one; however, two other experts were also interviewed to make sure regarding the saturation and the interview with the experts finished with the fourteenth one. Internal Factors Evaluations (IFE) Matrix, External Factors Evaluation (EFE) matrix, SWOT technique, Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix and Internal-External Matrix were used in technique part.

The results of conventional content analysis through semi-structured interview with research experts included identifying 14 strengths, 16 weaknesses, 14 environmental opportunities and 12 environmental threats. The final score taken from external factors was 2.589 which was more than 2.5; hence, lesson study has specific opportunities to some extent regarding external factors and macro strategy should be codified in a way to be able to remove threats using lesson study opportunities. So, using opportunities such as increasing the teachers’ capabilities in problem-solving process, removing the problems and barriers, creating open-class culture and maximum publication of the results among the colleagues and creating teachings cooperation culture which have been prioritized can be a good solution. Considering the final score in internal and external factors, the position of lesson study plan is 2.549 for the internal factors and 2.589 for the external factors in SO coordinate.  So, the extracted strategy is using the strengths of lesson study to face the opportunities. Therefore, the position of lesson study is in the beginning of growth and development and the suggested strategies should be consistent to the growth and development while taking competitive and conservative strategies into account. After conducting SWOT technique, 11 strategies were identified which were prioritized using QSPM matrix. Three strategies which had the highest priority were: the strategy of developing the activity of external supervisors, strategy of developing participatory leaning culture, professional participation and also the strategy of teachers’ empowerment in lesson study. 

The results imply that although offensive strategies (SO) are of high value, considering their strategic position in the middle of matrix, it is better to put emphasis on all four macro-strategies of lesson study. Last but not the least is that lesson study plan faces various challenges in Iran that the application of the offered strategies by the experts to solve the challenges can be an effective step to promote lesson study in the country.