Portfolio & Writings
Some things you should know about me..
SHORT BIOS
Short Bio
Pasi Sahlberg is Finnish educator, teacher and scholar. He worked as schoolteacher, teacher educator and policy advisor in Finland with broad international experience. He has served World Bank, European Commission and OECD and advised foreign governments on equity and excellence in education in more than 45 countries around the globe. He is board member of the ASCD (in the U.S.), the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education (IASCE in the U.S.), and the Centre on International Education Benchmarking (CIEB in the U.S.). His award-winning book “Finnish lessons: what can the world learn from educational change in Finland” (2011) is bestseller and translated into more than ten languages. His current job as Director General of CIMO (National Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) at the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture in Helsinki, Finland, he leads internationalization of Finnish education system. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki and at the Univeristy of Oulu. He received 2012 Education Award in Finland and 2013 Grawemeyer Award in the United States for his work on equity and quality for all through public education.
Introduction
Pasi Sahlberg is Director General of CIMO (Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) in Helsinki, Finland. He is experienced in classroom teaching, training teachers and leaders, coaching schools and advising education policy-makers around the world. Pasi is an international speaker and writer who has given more than 300 keynote speeches and published over 100 articles, chapters and books on education.
Pasi has lived and worked in England (King’s College), the United States (World Bank in Washington DC) and Italy (European Training Foundation in Torino) and worked in 50 countries around the world. He earned his PhD from the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) in 1996 and has been visiting speaker in Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University and Vanderbilt University in the U.S. and Parliament Houses in England, Scotland, New Zealand and the European Union.
Pasi is a member of the Board of Directors of ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) and IASCE (International Association for the Study of Cooperation in education) and member of the Advisory Board of the Center on International Education Benchmarking and Adjunct Professor at the Universities of Helsinki and Oulu.
His book “Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland?” (2011) won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award and he received the 2012 Education Award in Finland and 2011 Upton Sinclair Award in the United States. He is also known as international “school improvement activist” because his direct links to practitioners and their communities.
Short CV
Pasi Sahlberg, born 26 October 1959 in Oulu, Finland, is a Finnish citizen. He received Master of Science (Mathematics) in 1984 from University of Turku and PhD from the University of Jyvaskylä in 1996. He also has Teacher’s Diploma from the University of Helsinki in 1986.
Dr. Sahlberg has a long track record in education and development. His teaching career started in Teacher Training School and Department of Teacher Education at the University of Helsinki in 1986. He then moved to the Ministry of Education (National Board of Education) in 1991 to serve as Senior Advisor in science education, Head of the School Improvement Unit, and later as Counselor to the Deputy Director General on education policy development and education reform. In 2000 he was invited to take the leadership of the Centre for School Development in the University of Helsinki.
From the beginning of 2003 he worked as Senior Education Specialist in the World Bank in Washington, DC. He was responsible for education projects and analytical work in Europe and Central Asia. Since June 2007 he worked with the European Training Foundation, in Torino, Italy, as Lead Education Specialist producing intellectual services to governments, schools and leaders to improve their education policies and practices. He has worked with governments and educators in Europe, Central Asia, North America, Africa and Asia-Pacific region to help them in improving education policies and implementing system-wide education reforms.
In his current job as Director General of CIMO (National Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation) in the Ministry of Education and Culture Dr. Sahlberg works with the Finnish Government to promote internationalization and tolerance, creativity and global ethics in Finnish society through mobility and institutional cooperation in education, culture, youth and sport.
Dr. Sahlberg has an active figure in promoting educational changes in Finland and beyond. He has published several books, such as Cooperative Learning Handbook (with Shlomo Sharan in 2002) and Small Group Learning in Mathematics (with John Berry in 2003) and more than one hundred articles in journals, research periodicals and magazines around the world. Most recent ones include “The Fourth Way of Finland” (2011), “Rethinking Accountability in a Knowledge Society” (2010), “Creativity and innovation through lifelong learning” (2009), “Should ‘failing’ students repeat the grade?” (2008); “Education Policies for Raising Student Learning: The Finnish Approach” (2007) and “Education Reform for Raising Economic Competitiveness” (2006). He sits at the Board of Directors of the International Association for Studies of Cooperation in Education (IASCE) and Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) and member of the Advisory Board of the Center on International Education Benchmarking. He is at the Editorial Board of the Journal of Educational Change. His book “Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland?” (2011) won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award and he received the 2012 Education Award in Finland and the 2011 Upton Sinclair Award in the United States.
His professional interests are in educational change and leadership, student learning, and global education policy development. He has worked with OECD, World Bank, European Union and several governments in 50 countries in Africa, Central Asia, Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe, Pacific Region, Latin America and North America. He has been advisor to several governments and provided high-level strategic advice to policy-makers, prepared and reviewed education reforms and institutions, analyzed education reforms and spoke to the public and professionals about education and training around the world. He is Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki and at the University of Oulu. He enjoys family-life, reading, writing, music, basketball and golf.