Can public knowledge be created through practitioner research? - learning studies and variation theory as mechanisms and strategies behind knowledge production in teachers’ research

In this paper, we address the question if teachers’ collaborative research can produce practicebased knowledge relevant beyond the borders of the local school context. It has been argued that teachers’ collaboration in professional learning communities (PLC) are aiming at practical innovations and change foremost in teacher learning, and thereby do not strive to create public practical knowledge beyond the borders of the local school. The purpose of this paper is to discuss a particular type practitioner research in schools, a type of theory-based lesson study, that have shown to have potential of creating knowledge products that enhance student learning that also are sharable between teachers.