Pasi Sahlberg: lessons from Finnish education

Social Europe

https://socialeurope.eu/

Around the world, education 'reforms' have made schooling more market-mimicking and competitive, rendering education a 'club good' for the better off. Finland shows how treating education as a public good and teachers as autonomous professionals brings better student performance overall, without intrusive and expensive inspection.

https://pasisahlberg.com/

https://twitter.com/pasi_sahlberg


Essay

By design

New foundations for teaching and learning

by Pasi Sahlberg

https://www.griffithreview.com/articles/by-design/

I WAS TREMBLING. Not because I was about to do something risky or scary – quite the opposite. This was a situation I had been in many times before, but I was nervous about what was going to happen next.

I was on the Concert Hall stage at the Sydney Opera House looking at an audience of about 2,000 people. Not to perform music, thankfully: I’d been invited to speak about why Australia should abolish its private schools. Typical symptoms of performance anxiety include dry mouth, sweaty hands, trembling knees and racing heartbeat – I experienced all these and more. Even my vision had changed thanks to the bright spotlights turned towards me.

Standing alone, I caught sight of the beautiful white birch panelling of the Concert Hall’s interior. It reminded me of my home country. For the Finns, the birch is a sacred tree. Birch trees play an important part in the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic.

Suddenly I felt more comfortable.

It was time to do what I’d come to do – to tell the audience why Finnish parents don’t ever need to worry about finding a good school or paying for their children’s education, and why Australians wouldn’t need to do so either if they didn’t want to.

Imagine that.

This episode happened in September 2012 during my second visit to Australia. I’d enjoyed many conversations and debates with Australians over the years, but that day at the Opera House became my most memorable public talk to that point. It still is the highlight of my working life.

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