When teachers engage in lesson observation and conferencing, in the context of mentoring, peer review, or as part of conducting a Learning Study, they not only contribute towards their own professional development, but also to the development of their school as a learning community. In Unit 7 we focus on the contribution lesson conferencing can make to the development of the overall learning community, in the context of conducting a Learning Study. This provides an example of an alternative form of lesson conferencing, where teachers and university colleagues join together to plan, observe and refine a research lesson using Variation Theory as the main theoretical framework. In Units 8 and 9 we return to the more usual form of conferencing, as we focus on two key factors that help to make classrooms into productive learning communities. In Unit 8 we consider the need to cater for pupil diversity and in Unit 9 the importance of establishing the tone of learning and teaching.