The Finnish Miracle with Dr. Pasi Sahlberg

“Most importantly, the school principals and administrators fully trust the teachers' way of thinking and doing what they do in the classrooms. When that is the defining culture, then, of course, the teachers trust the kids, and the children trust the teachers. It’s this really strong element of trust that makes it possible to build these relationships in the schools and leave teachers room and freedom to design what is best for the kids.”

Over the past two decades, Finland has been regarded with praise and envy when it comes to PISA scores and student/teacher wellbeing. But why is this the case? In what ways is Finland a positive model for other countries to aspire to? Dr. Pasi Sahlberg explains the Finnish Miracle and shares his wisdom regarding the centrality of relationships in the classroom.

Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator and author who has worked as schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems, analyzed education policies, and advised education reforms around the world. He has written and spoken widely about these topics, his book “Finnish Lessons 2.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for an idea that has potential to change the world. He is also a recipient of the 2012 Education Award in Finland, the 2014 Robert Owen Award in Scotland, the 2016 Lego Prize, and Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Resident Fellowship in 2017. He is a former senior education specialist at the World Bank, a lead education expert at the European Training Foundation, a director general at the Finland’s Ministry of Education, and a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University. He chairs the Open Society Foundations’ Education Board and is a member of the Governing Board of the University of Oulu and the International Council of Education Advisors (ICEA) for the Scottish Government. His recent books are “Hard Questions on Global Educational Change”, “Empowered Educators in Finland” and “FinnishED Leadership: Four Big, Inexpensive Ideas to Transform Education”. He is a professor of education policy at the Gonski Institute for Education, University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.