A reflective dialogue between the lesson study experts on their journey towards becoming <i>koshi</i> : learnings, experiences and the perceived roles

Purpose Lesson study (LS) is a collaborative teacher development practice, and one of the key attributes thereof is the involvement of the external knowledgeable other (koshi). Despite well-documented evidence that LS improves the craft of teaching, the entrenched concept of koshi and the role thereof is not well explored and documented. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to reflect on and share my learnings and experiences of becoming a koshi, subsequently, what I perceive to be the role of a koshi. Design/methodology/approach My colleague and I engaged in a reflective dialogue about our experiences in our journey towards becoming the koshis. The current study is framed by Kolb’s reflective practice as a theoretical lens. Guided by Kolb’s reflective cycle, we engaged in dialogical reflection on our experiences of becoming a koshi, subsequently forming conceptual abstractions regarding the perceived roles of koshi. Findings Learning to become a koshi through on-the-job learning without the presence of an experienced koshi to learn from is a difficult undertaking. Two koshis are essential in the LS process internal koshi for planning and external koshi for reflection. Two broad characterisations of koshi’s roles are distinguished knowledge/skills sharing and koshi’s attributes. Originality/value Drawing from the findings in this paper, my learnings and experiences coalesced into re-thinking the formulation of the role of koshi within the LS context. This is against the backdrop that, although the concept of koshi features quite prominently in the implementation of LS, the actual roles of koshi are not sufficiently documented.