This essay was written with William Doyle and originally published in Washington Post on April 8, 2020 The coronavirus crisis has shattered one of the most dysfunctional pillars of childhood education. On March 20, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos suspended the federal requirement for the mass standardized testing of children, announcing “Neither students nor teachers need to be focused on high-stakes tests during this…
read moreThey say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But having an apple or a sandwich for lunch when students are supposed to be doing well in school is not enough. We all know healthy children learn better. Healthy school lunch served free to every Australian child would be a simple way to improve education and child wellbeing. Some schools offer children breakfast or lunch daily, but the majority have to get by with what’s in their…
read moreWhen people overseas ask me about Australian schools, I tell them that we have some of the best schools in the world — but they are not for all of our children. International reviews have proved that the Australian school system is one of the most unequal and socially segregated among the rich countries of the world. This is not a recent finding. During the last decade, evidence from abroad and findings in our own studies…
read moreEvery three years around this time politicians, education leaders and pundits step up to call for fixing their education systems. This has happened for two decades now. Education reforms follow one after another. Still, according to the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa), school systems are not getting any better around the world. Indeed, in many countries, students’ test scores in reading, mathematics…
read moreAmerican journalist and social critic H L Mencken wrote that “for every complex human problem, there is a solution that is neat, simple and wrong”. "Back to basics" or phonics tests are such answers that have been offered to improve Australian schools. Alarm bells were ringing around Australia when the latest PISA results became public on Tuesday. Australia scored its lowest ever results in the global reading, mathematics…
read moreThe biggest issues confronting parents these days all seem to have one common element: smart devices. We know for sure that children today suffer more mental health issues than generations before. We also know that kids now sleep much less than they should, and a lack of sleep affects their wellbeing and learning. Reading and writing skills have been declining in Australia over recent years and students’ learning in other areas…
read moreBy Pasi Sahlberg and Peter Johnson Originally published in Washington Post on 30 August 2019 Finland has been in the spotlight of the education world since it appeared, against all odds, on the top of the rankings of an international test known as PISA, the Program for International Student Assessment, in the early 2000s. Tens of thousands visitors have traveled to the country to see how to improve their own schools. Hundreds…
read moreAbout a year ago my life turned upside down, literally. My wife and I, with our two school-aged children, moved to Sydney from Helsinki. We soon realised that Australians do not walk upside down. But there were some things that we were not prepared for. Ever since we arrived in our new hometown, people were curious to know how we chose a school for our sons. For us it was no-brainer — the neighbourhood public school. But most…
read moreThe U.S. can learn a big lesson from Finland’s education system: Instead of stress and standardized testing, schools should focus on well-being and joy By Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle Five years ago, we switched countries. Pasi Sahlberg came to the U.S. as a visiting professor at Harvard University, and William Doyle moved to Finland to study its world-renowned school system as a Fulbright scholar. We brought our families…
read moreHundreds and thousands of students in more than 100 countries are walking out of their schools on Friday with a shared purpose: Save our planet. Some teachers, parents and politicians have raised objections to insist that these children should stay in school instead. I think we grown-ups need to think twice before we stand up against our children on this burning issue. First, it is difficult to understand how young people feel…
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