WELCOME MESSAGE

The World Association of Lesson Studies (WALS) will host its 9th Annual International

Conference at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, from September 6-9, 2013. This is the first

time the conference will be held outside Asia. It is a great honour to invite delegates from Asia

as well as other parts of the world to Europe. Our aim is to bring together teachers and

researchers from all over the world to share their knowledge and experience of practice-based

research on Lesson and Learning Study in the classroom.

WALS was founded at the Hong Kong Institute of Education by Lo Mun Ling, who at the time

was working closely with Professor Emeritus Ference Marton, a visiting professor at Hong Kong

University. Thanks to the fact that Ference Marton has been working at the University of

Gothenburg since the 1970s, Gothenburg has become the centre for Lesson and Learning Study

research in Sweden. From the very beginning, the University of Gothenburg has collaborated

closely with researchers in Asia in this field.

The concept “Lesson and Learning Study” has become increasingly familiar in Europe in recent

years. The 2013 conference gives teachers and researchers an excellent opportunity to discuss

common issues relating to teaching and learning across cultural boundaries. Teachers and

researchers in the Lesson and Learning Study field have acquired considerable experience since

Lesson and Learning Study was initiated many decades ago. They have also broadened their

interest to include other kinds of lesson and learning studies that have been conducted in

various European countries such as Sweden, Great Britain and Germany, to mention but a few.

We cordially invite researchers and practitioners working in the school environment and from

different parts of the world to join us for the WALS 2013 conference. As this is the first time the

conference will be conducted in Europe, we very much hope that participants from Asia will

attend and present their work. We also welcome researchers from other parts of the world who

are willing to share their interpretation of Lesson and Learning Study and how the field is

understood in their own particular cultural context.

We are proud to announce that Professor Xiangming Chen, Professor John Elliott, Professor

Ingrid Pramling-Samuelsson, Professor Ference Marton and Professor Ulla Runesson have

accepted our invitation as keynote speakers so far.

We hope you will also find our plenary sessions interesting as they are collaboratively organised

by researchers, teacher educators and school leaders drawn from the Lesson and Learning

Study field. The sessions will focus on topics of relevance for learning at school but also cover

such areas as special education, pre-school, large-scale educational development as well as

Lesson and Learning study as model for national school development. There will also be

opportunities to visit Swedish schools during the final day of the conference.

It is our sincere hope that you will join us at the WALS 2013 conference. We bid you a warm

welcome to Gothenburg and to Sweden.

Associate Professor Mona Holmqvist Olander, Chairperson

WALS 2013 Organizing Committee

University of Gothenburg, Sweden

IMPORTANT DATES

1 March 2013

Strict deadline for submission of proposals and

abstracts

12 April 2013

Notification of acceptance/rejection

The ‘Early Bird’ registration starts

14 June 2013

Deadline for the ‘Early Bird’ registration and payment

31 July 2013

Final deadline for registration and payment

15 August 2013

Publication of the online program

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The committee for WALS2013 invites submission of proposals related to this year’s conference

theme “Lesson and Learning Study as teacher research”. The strands for WALS2013 are:

• Teacher Professional Development

• Action Research

• Pedagogies and Teaching Strategies

• Designing for Learning with Quality in Specific Subjects

• Research on Lessons in Different Cultures

• Issues about Leading Lesson and Learning Study

• Learning Communities for School Reform

• Developing Communities of Practices

• Creating Knowledge in Practice

• Student Learning and Development

• Lesson and Learning Study in Pre-School

• Lesson and Learning Study in Special Educational settings

Types of Sessions

Presenters have a choice of 4 types of sessions

1) Paper presentations (30 minutes)

Research papers and case studies are welcomed for this category of presentation. There will be

3 paper presentations for each parallel session. Each paper will be allocated with 20 minutes of

presentation time and 10 minutes of Q&A. The following types of papers are encouraged for

submissions:

a) Research Papers

Completed research papers in any of the strands listed above or related areas.

b) Student Papers

Research done by students in any of the strands listed above or related areas.

c) Case Studies

Case studies in any of the strands listed above or related areas.

d) Work-in-Progress Reports or Proposals for Future Research

Incomplete research or ideas for future research in order to generate discussion and feedback in

any of the strands listed above or related areas.

e) Reports on Issues Related to Teaching

Reports related to innovative instruction techniques or research related to teaching in any of

the strands listed above or related areas.

2) Symposium presentations (1.5 hours)

Participants are welcomed to organize symposiums consisting of papers on related topics. 90

minutes are allocated for each symposium. It is common practice for 3 inter-related paper

presentations to be grouped together for a symposium. Symposium organizers are advised to

elect a chairperson as well as a discussant for their symposium.

Examples of Symposiums

1) Researchers from the same field may wish to collaborate to organize a symposium consisting

of 3 research papers which covers inter-related topics.

2) A school may be interested to organize a symposium consisting of 3 presentations from

school leaders’ perspectives or teachers’ case studies.

3) Teachers may wish to collaborate across schools to present case studies of similar subjects or

focus.

3) Workshops: 1.5 hours

Workshops are informative, interesting and interactive sessions and may be targeted at the

general conference populace or designed for specific target groups (teachers, school leaders,

educators, researchers). Workshops are 3 hours in length and may consist of hands-on activities,

demonstration, and/or discussion. We welcome workshops in the field of the conferences

strands above.

4) Poster presentation: 1.5 hours

Posters may include reports of ongoing research or case studies of professional practices.

Research reports should clearly include the research topic, the research question(s), methods of

data collection, data analysis and preliminary research findings. Posters of good practices should

include relevant information such as the background of the school, the context of the case

study, data analysis (where applicable) and findings/recommendations. Presenters are

encouraged to prudently use texts and graphics in the layout of their posters.

Audio Visual and Technological Support

Each room will be equipped with a computer, an overhead projector and a whiteboard. The

computers at the conference will be able to support Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Reader.

Presenters are advised to save your presentation document(s) in a thumb drive and transfer the

file(s) to the local computers prior to the start of your presentation. To facilitate the smooth

running of the conference programme, the use of personal laptops is discouraged. Requests for

any additional technological equipment may be made in the online registration form.

Language of Presentation

English.

Submission of Abstracts

Each abstract should not exceed 350 words. Submit your abstract at www.walsnet.org.

Review Criteria

Paper/Symposium/Poster Proposals

• Clarity of aim/formulation/conceptualization

• Quality of writing and organisation

• Relevance of research topic for this conference

• For symposiums, a critical criterion is whether individual presentations are sufficiently inter-

related.

Workshop Proposals

• Appropriateness of topic

• Clarity of aim and design

• Presence of interactivity element

• Relevance to practice

Conference Registration

Early Bird Registration opens 12 April and closes on 14 June 2013.

Conference registration closes on 31 July 2013.

Note: All presenters and co-presenters must register and pay to attend the conference.

Membership Registration

If you are unable to attend WALS2013 but would like to join the World Association of Lesson

Studies (WALS) as a member, apply for membership at www.walsnet.org. Members of WALS will

receive access to full papers from past WALS conferences and online access to the International

Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies (IJLLS).

CONFERENCE REGISTRATION FEES

WALS2013 conference registration comes with a 2013 annual membership to WALS.

Membership includes the online access to the International Journal for Lesson and Learning

Studies (IJLLS).Memberships are entered on a calendar year basis (January-December). If you

register after Jan 1, 2013, you will be able to access all back issues from January 2013 until the

month you registered.

Conference fees depend on student status, and early vs. regular registration dates.

Early Bird Rate

(ends on 14 June 2013)

Regular Rate

(15 June to 31 July 2013)

Regular Registration 2 500 SEK 3 000 SEK

Student 1 700 SEK 2 000 SEK

- Conference registration will include access to all conference sessions, conference materials,

morning tea+lunch+afternoon tea on Day 1 and Day 2, and morning tea on Day 3.

- Student Rate: To qualify for the student rate you must be a FULL TIME student at the time of

the conference and a student ID is required for verification upon collection of name badge at

the conference.

SOCIAL EVENT AND EDUCATIONAL TRIP FEES

Fees

Social Function (optional) 400 SEK

School Visit (optional) 400 SEK

- The Social Dinner will be held on Day 2 (7 September 2013)

- The School Visits will be held on Day 4 (9 September 2013).