Pasi Sahlberg

Abstract

Finnish educator and former classroom teacher Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons and coauthor of Let the Children Play and In Teachers We Trust, is a public intellectual and advocate for education policies that he sees both as integral to the success of Finland’s schools and as relevant inspirations for school systems around the world. These policies include equity as a pathway to excellence, play and well-being as critical foundations of learning; preparing and respecting teachers as clinical professionals; and the full participation of children, women, teachers, and parents in education decision-making. Through his books, public lectures, work at the World Bank and Finnish Ministry of Education and on the faculties of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and editorials in media such as The Washington Post, Guardian, CNN.com, and the Wall Street Journal, Sahlberg has shaped global discussions of education reform and system improvement. He strongly challenges basic assumptions of the global education reform movement, or “GERM,” as promoted by some influential philanthropies and many governments, assumptions that include market-based competition between schools, the privatization of public education, tight controls on curriculum and on teacher professional autonomy, the consequent marginalization of physical activity, play and the arts, and the intense standardization and datafication of assessments of teaching and learning. According to Sahlberg, these policies are ineffective and counterproductive, and the pathways to excellence in childhood education can be forged by going in largely opposite directions.