This paper clarifi es the characteristics of educational change in a junior high school located in rural area in Vietnam, focusing on practice of “Lesson Study”, through multiple analysis of official policies about recent educational reforms on junior high schools in Vietnam and field study of the present situation in Nguyen Truc junior high school as a case study. In this paper, I will provide some viewpoints on how the practice of lesson study has affected school environments surrounding teachers in the school and how the practice of education has been changed in the course of practice of lesson study.
With intention to achieve this research object, in the first section, official policies related to reforms of educational practice in junior high schools in Vietnam. In the next section, the former style of educational practices and the course of development of lesson study in Nguyen Truc junior high school is examined as a case study. In the fourth section, based on the discussion of the second section, the present situation of educational practice and learning in Nguyen Truc junior high school is analyzed from the two aspects of students’ learning community and teachers’ learning community with special focus on literature class.
In the light of these points, it is concluded that lesson study in Nguyen Truc junior high school has contributed to enhance and strengthen collegiality of teachers though co-building lesson plans and co-reflecting on the classroom practices, and that educational practice has been changed from the one that is based on teacher-centered and “choke and talk” style to the one that is based on participation and dialogue between students. In other words, the characteristic of educational change by introduction of lesson study in Nguyen Truc junior high school is to create connections between teachers and students and collegiality of teachers in classroom practice as well as to create learning condition that can guarantee various opinions in these communities.