The knowledge machinery and claims in learning study as paedeutical research Ingrid Maria Carlgren Stockholm University, Kista, Sweden Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the theoretical reflection on learning study as a research approach. The focus is on description and reflection on the methodology of learning study as paedeutic research. This research is for, not on, teachers, i.e. research into problems and challenges faced by teachers in their professional practice. Learning study as paedeutic research is about the content and processes of formation/Bildung in relation to specific learning objects. Its focus is on subject-specific ways of knowing as well as how such knowing is enabled through teaching. Design/methodology/approach – The point of departure is a perspective on research approaches as practices, i.e. as activities with certain aims as well as ways of “making” knowledge. Based on a description of the knowledge machinery in a learning study, i.e. those mechanisms that together generate new knowledge, the knowledge claims that can be made are discussed together with the theoretical underpinning of the arguments. The knowledge machinery is described in relation to how it is organised around the delimitation and analysis of an object of Learning as well as designing and evaluating ways to make the critical aspects of this object of learning visible. As an epistemological underpinning, some aspects of pragmatic philosophical thinking regarding the relationship between theory and practice are outlined. Based on that the research process may be described as a development of means-ends relationships – from unconscious empirical relationships to conscious staging of internal and theoretical relations. Abduction is an important tool for this meaning-making. Findings – Learning study can be described as a particularistic, theory-building research approach concerning the knowing of specific learning objects as well as how they can be taught and learnt. The knowledge that is generated in learning study is theoretical and describes aspects of the teaching and learning of specific objects of learning. The research process can be described in terms of specification where practice is gradually supplied with a more differentiated meaning. A learning study is organised around a specific object of learning that functions as an open and unfolding object of knowledge. It combines a practice-based development of theory with a theory-based development of practice. Originality/value – The development of the thinking about learning study as research for, rather than on, teachers is paedeutical research. A contribution to reflection on the knowledge machinery and knowledge claims of such research. Keywords Learning study, Knowledge machinery, Paedeutic research, Particularistic theory-building research, Subject-specific knowing Paper type Conceptual paper Introduction Hiebert et al. (2002) have described the Japanese lesson study as an alternative to the dominant paradigm within educational research in that it starts in the classroom rather than in the university – a kind of research that develops teachers’ mainly tacit craft knowledge into professional knowledge that is possible to share, store and cumulate. They discuss lesson study as a counterpart to the clinical research in the medical field. However, to perceive lesson study as research that generates new knowledge seems to be an alien thought in the educational world. Instead there has been a growth of research about lesson study as a model for teachers’ professional development as well as for the improvement of teaching. Learning study has been described as a hybrid between lesson study and design experiments (Marton and Pang, 2006; Marton et al., 2004). Like lesson study it is based on teachers’ collaboration in designing, observing, analysing and revising lessons in order to International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies Vol. 9 No. 1, 2020 pp. 18-30 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2046-8253 DOI 10.1108/IJLLS-02-2019-0010 Received 26 February 2019 Revised 4 July 2019 25 July 2019 Accepted 6 August 2019 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/2046-8253.htm 18 IJLLS 9,1