Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine variations within lesson study (LS) practices and their connections with related traditions: teacher research/enquiry approaches, professional development models, professional learning communities and group problem-solving approaches. Questions are addressed about the relationships between different professional learning approaches in terms of definitions and frameworks. Design/methodology/approach Academic databases and website sources were searched in a purposive way to identify 20 practices associated with these traditions for comparative analysis. Findings A conceptual framework consisting of eight dimensions was constructed to account for the variations within and between these professional learning traditions: for instance, about the settings in which the practices take place, the purposes of the practices and the specific procedures involved. By illustrating how specific practices fitted within this framework it is concluded that the variations within the LS tradition are wide enough to make it difficult to identify a set of necessary and sufficient features of LS to distinguish LS practices from the other non-LS professional learning practices. Reasons are also given for considering whether a polythetic type of definition of professional learning/development practices might be constructed. Research limitations/implications The possibility for a more systematic review of professional learning approaches for the construction of a conceptual framework is discussed. Practical implications Ways in which this kind of conceptualisation can be useful in promoting clarity about professional learning practices and in developing these practices are discussed. Originality/value The originality of this paper lies in the construction of a conceptual framework to analyse similarities and differences within and between various professional learning traditions.

中文翻译：

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理解课程学习和类似课程学习的实践中的国际差异

目的 本文的目的是检查课程学习 (LS) 实践中的变化及其与相关传统的联系：教师研究/探究方法、专业发展模式、专业学习社区和小组解决问题的方法。讨论了不同专业学习方法在定义和框架方面的关系的问题。设计/方法/方法 有目的地搜索学术数据库和网站资源，以确定与这些传统相关的 20 种做法，以进行比较分析。结果 构建了一个由八个维度组成的概念框架，以解释这些专业学习传统内部和之间的差异：例如，关于实践发生的环境，实践的目的和涉及的具体程序。通过说明具体的实践如何适应这个框架，得出的结论是 LS 传统中的变化足够广泛，以至于很难确定 LS 的一组必要和充分的特征，以将 LS 实践与其他非 LS 专业学习实践区分开来. 还给出了考虑是否可以构建专业学习/发展实践的多元类型定义的原因。研究限制/影响 讨论了对构建概念框架的专业学习方法进行更系统审查的可能性。实际意义 讨论了这种概念化有助于提高专业学习实践的清晰度和发展这些实践的方法。原创性/价值 本文的原创性在于构建一个概念框架来分析各种专业学习传统内部和之间的异同。