Transforming new curriculum objectives into classroom instruction with the aid of learning studies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report a case study that qualitatively describes and analyses teachers’ discussions when planning and evaluating lessons under supervision, and what is described is the focus on their reasoning, the activities decided upon and how they decided to assess the pupils’ learning outcomes when transforming formal curriculum objectives for English as a foreign language (EFL) into classroom instruction. The effect of this transformation, expressed in different ways of designing lessons, is evaluated by assessing the pupils’ learning outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – The content analysis is based on variation theory. An iteratively designed method, the learning study, is used and data from five teacher meetings in this iterative process is analysed. Findings – The analysis shows that the areas the teachers focus on initially are: implementation (activities); content; and pupils’ knowledge, prioritised in this order, even if they partly seem to be intertwined and handled as a whole, with the three different areas being put in the foreground or background during the learning-study process. In the later part of the process, the perspective has changed to a focus on: pupils’ knowledge; content; and implementation (activities). Originality/value – The findings in this paper suggest to teachers a way to implement a formal curriculum in a local context. The authors also argue for the importance of collective work in this process.