On June 4th I sat down with ABC’s Sarah Kanowski to have a conversation about my work, life and perspectives to education in Australia and Finland. This is the first public interview that the story went to look at my very early years as a schoolboy, adolescent and student and how all these often unexpected and planned life events took me to Sydney, Australia today. It is not often that one can have a conversation like this, especially when it was with amazing Sarah from Australia’s ABC.
ABC makes Conversations series accessible to all. You can listen to this episode that has a title “Making the school to happiest place to be” here.
This is from the episode’s website:
Pasi Sahlberg grew up in in a small village in Northern Finland. The winters were long and dark, and the snow was deep. Pasi’s father was a school teacher. And that’s what Pasi always wanted to do too, when he grew up.
After training as a teacher, he began a life in education policy. After a number of years, Pasi became the Director General of Education in Finland. Finland regularly tops international academic rankings. The country’s teachers are highly valued and remunerated, and students have a shorter school day than most other countries, with a firm focus on the importance of play.
Within a few years, Pasi’s educational philosophy saw him sought out by many governments around the world. He believes most kids know what interests them deeply when they are very young, whether it’s spiders, bicycles, guitar or drawing, and that schools should be able to adapt to help them learn as much as they can about their passions.