A key feature of a learning community is that it aims to maximize both the pupils' learning and the teachers' learning. The two are intimately related. A common theme underpinning these materials is that all who participate in a lesson conference are potential learners, whether they are a novice teacher, mentor, supervisor, or a colleague conducting peer review.

Ultimately, however, it is the pupils in the school that benefit when teachers critically analyse their classroom practice. In this Unit, we will bring the pupils' views into the conversation as we consider lesson observation and conferencing, as it applies to conducting a Learning Study.

We begin by briefly introducing some key concepts used in Learning Study, which enable teachers to be more 'incisive' (perceptive, insightful, sharp, penetrating) in analysing whether the teaching is maximizing pupils' learning.

The Unit begins by emphasising that collaboration in teaching is not simply restricted to co-lesson planning. In a learning community, teachers plan, observe, review and revise lessons collaboratively. Having made this point, the Unit then includes extracts from a pre-lesson planning, lesson observation and a post-lesson analysis.