What strikes me most about Iceland is not the coexistence of the hot volcanoes and the cold sea. While I continue to be thrilled about the sagas and the magic of the history, there is something else that makes Iceland a special place. I am always impressed when I think about how people in Iceland view education as a fundamental element of survival and community, and a condition of good life. What anyone arriving to Iceland needs…
read moreBy Pasi Sahlberg and Amy Graham More than nine out of ten parents think digital media and technologies are a negative distraction in their lives. And 83% think their children are also negatively distracted by digital devices. These are some of the findings from our Growing Up Digital Australia study. In 2020 we surveyed nearly 2,500 parents, grandparents and caregivers across Australia. This data set yielded data about over…
read moreIf you have children or grandchildren, I have a question for you: Do children today spend less time playing compared to when you were their age? This can be a hard question to answer accurately. According to my experience most people have a very clear response: Children today play less than they parents did in their childhood. Often much less. Recently we asked nearly 2,000 Australian parents about their perceptions of children’s…
read moreThis is an excerpt from Finnish Lessons 3.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? (2021), pp. 167-172. --------- I have been privileged to meet and host scores of foreign education delegations to Finland in recent years in their quest to build higher-performing school systems in their own countries. What most of these visitors take away is that Finland has a highly standardized teacher education system…
read moreBy Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle Two decades ago, Finland made big news in international education circles. Against all odds it became a top-performer in OECD’s first PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) study that compared 15-year-olds’ knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacies. Since about 2010 education experts and pundits in the United States have debated whether there is…
read moreWhen my friends overseas ask me what I think about Australian education, I tell them that we have the best schools in the world – but not for everyone. Indeed, according to internationally comparative evidence, the learning gap between the lowest and highest performing students in Australia is huge. At the age of 15, this learning gap equates to three years of schooling. It is an inconvenient fact that one of the wealthiest…
read moreThis post is based on the submission to the Independent Inquiry on Valuing the Teaching Profession in NSW that was released on 20 February 2021. My full submission to the inquiry panel is here. ========= The teaching profession is facing considerable challenges from more directions than one. Public school teachers in NSW and other parts of Australia work longer hours than before. They are teaching more diverse students in their…
read moreAustralia has been ranked among the best places in the world to be during the coronavirus pandemic and to move to after it is over, according to international media. This is not by chance but a result of a particular way of dealing with the most dangerous global health crisis of the century.The key theory of managing the coronavirus crisis is simple: go strong early on with prevention and insist on active testing, contact tracing…
read moreBy Pasi Sahlberg & Saku Tuominen Many education systems aim to educate young people in how to flourish in an increasingly unpredictable world. Until early 2020 this goal remained an abstract idea without concrete examples in the real life. At best, students practiced creative thinking in imaginary exercises outside the school where the normal rules didn´t work anymore and new ideas were required to move on. At worst students…
read moreWhat is the X-factor that helps schools through the current global health crisis? Lessons from around the world tell us that where schools have flexible curriculum arrangements, creative approaches to real problem-solving, and confidence in collective professional wisdom of teacher as leaders, navigation through the tough times gets easier. It is all about trust in teachers to do what is best for every child in their schools.…
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