How can a learning study model contribute to teachers’ professional development? Perspectives from a community of history teachers

Abstract

This study explores how a Learning Study model can support collaboration within a Professional Learning Community and promote the development of history teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge. The study adopts a qualitative case study design based on interviews with a community of Swedish upper secondary history teachers, focusing on their experiences of the sustained use of a specific Learning Study model, with particular attention to collaborative processes and instructional development over time. The findings show that the Learning Study model, grounded in variation theory, provided teachers with theoretical tools for the design and analysis of teaching units and supported sustainable collaborative development. Through collaboration, teachers developed a shared understanding of history as a subject, including its aims and teaching strategies. When combined with an enquiry- and source-based framework, the model enabled shifts towards more interpretive, disciplinary and student-centred instructional practices. The study also highlights the importance of structural conditions such as an open and trusting climate, professional guidance and continuity in the application of the model. The study contributes empirical knowledge on how sustained use of a Learning Study model can facilitate collaboration within a Professional Learning Community. It further shows how the model, when used in conjunction with an enquiry- and source-based framework, can support the development of history teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, an area in which research remains limited.