Pasi SAHLBERG, PhD

Director General CIMO/Ministry of Education

Helsinki FINLAND

in the Baltic Countries British Parliament London, ENGLAND

17th May 2012

pasisahlberg.com Twitter: @pasi_sahlberg

Why Finland?

3 things to get right

Finland has not always been a high performer

Finland has never aimed to be a top performer

Finland ranks high in many other areas as well

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Educational performance over time

Similar policies, better implementation?

Different policies, different implementation?

or

Equity in education

Qu

alit

y in

ed

uca

tio

n

What does society need from education?

High performers

Policy driver #1: Enhancing equity

Social capital

Hu

man

cap

ital

What does society need from education?

High performers

Policy driver #1: Enhancing equity

Income inequality

Lear

nin

g o

utc

om

es

Income inequality and learning

FINLAND

Variation of students’ reading literacy in PISA 2009

OECD

Variation between school

ENGLAND

Policy driver #1: Enhancing equity

Policy driver #2: Less is more

Less teaching time

Policy driver #2: Less is more

Less teaching time

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100

1200

United S

tate

s

Me

xic

o

New

Ze

ala

nd

Scotla

nd

Au

str

alia

Russian…

Germ

any

Po

rtuga

l

Neth

erla

nds

Irela

nd

En

gla

nd

Sp

ain

Be

lgiu

m (

Fl.)

Slo

venia

Icela

nd

Be

lgiu

m (

Fr.

)

Norw

ay

Denm

ark

Fra

nce

Cze

ch R

epublic

Luxem

bourg

Esto

nia

Ko

rea

Hungary

Au

str

ia

Jap

an

Italy

Isra

el

Fin

lan

d

Po

lan

d

Gre

ece

Average annual teaching hours of a typical middle school teacher

60 min/day

Policy driver #2: Less is more

More time for collaboration

Curriculum planning

Student assessment

School improvement

School welfare issues

Policy driver #2: Less is more

Policy driver #2: Less is more

Less classroom time

0 1 000 2 000 3 000 4 000 5 000 6 000 7 000 8 000 9 000

Italy

Australia

Israel

Belgium (Fr.)3

Netherlands

Mexico

France

Ireland

Spain

Luxembourg

Portugal

England

Belgium (Fl.)

Turkey

Chile

Austria

OECD average

Denmark

Iceland

Germany

Japan

Greece

Slovak Republic

Norway

Hungary

Czech Republic2

Korea

Sweden1

Russian…

Slovenia

Finland

Estonia

Poland

Total number of intended instruction hours

Ages 7 to 8 Ages 9 to 11 Ages 12 to 14

Policy driver #2: Less is more

Less classroom time

Less classroom time Grades 1 to 9 (Eurydice, 2011)

FINLAND UK LUXEMBURG

OECD average in

reading Literacy in

2009

. .

.

Policy driver #2: Less is more

“Less homework, more time to play”

Policy driver #2: Less is more

“The key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task

for a total of around 10,000 hours” Malcolm Gladwell: “Outliers”

Policy driver #3: Teacher and leader professionalism

Veera

Only for the very best

Applicants Accepted

Applicants and accepted to primary teacher education in the University of Helsinki in 2012

Policy driver #3: Teacher and leader professionalism

“The key to success in any field is, to a large extent, a matter of practicing a specific task

for a total of around 10,000 hours” Malcolm Gladwell: “Outliers”

SCHOOL CHOICE

STANDARDIZATION

COMPETITION

Finnish Way

COLLABORATION

PERSONALIZATION

EQUITY

TRUST-BASED PROFESSIONALISM TEST-BASED ACCOUNTABILITY

GERM

Global Educational Reform Movement

National averages of 15-year-old students learning outcomes in mathematics 2000-06

460

480

500

520

540

560

USA UK Canada Australia Japan New Zealand Ireland Finland

2000

2003

2006

OECD 2001-2007

Does GERM work?

Doing the wrong thing righter!

“You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried

everything else.”

OECD (2012):

“The highest-performing education systems across the OECD countries are those that combine quality with equity.”

Finnish Lesson for England #1:

“More collaboration, less competition.”

“More personalization, less standardization.”

Finnish Lesson for England #2:

“More trust-based responsibility, less test-based accountability.”

Finnish Lesson for England #3:

“More pedagogy, less technology.”

Finnish Lesson for England #4:

“More professionalism, less bureaucracy.”

Finnish Lesson for England #5:

Thank you!

pasisahlberg.com Twitter: pasi_sahlberg