A Quick Review of the Book Finnish Lessons by Mr.

Pasi Sahlberg
The story of Finland's extraordinary educational reforms is one that should inform
policymakers and educators around the world. No one tells this story more clearly
and engagingly than Pasi Sahlberg.
This book is a wake-up call for the United States. Finland went from mediocre
academic results to one of the top performers in the world. And they did it with unions,
minimal testing, national collaboration, and elevating teaching to a high-status calling.
A terrific synthesis by a native Finn, a teacher, a researcher, and a policy analyst all
rolled up into one excellent writer. Pasi Sahlberg teaches us a great deal about what
we need to know before engaging in national educational reforms.
Finland's remarkable educational story, so well told in this book by Pasi Sahlberg, is
both informative and inspiring because it shows that with appropriate effort sustained
over time, a country can make huge improvements for its young people, something
that all countries aspire to do.
Pasi Sahlberg is the best education policy expert to share the Finnish experiences
with the international community.
The book, by Pasi Sahlberg (2011) starts with the thesis of the success of the Finnish
education system. The introduction explains some of the reasons for the success
story that is going to be presented in the five chapters of the book.
Among those reasons are:

Young people learn well in schools with low performance differences;

Teaching is a prestigious profession which attracts many young people;
Finnish teachers education is most competitive in the world;
Teachers have professional autonomy;
Those who join the profession stay in it for a life;
Before leaving comprehensive schools more than half of the pupils get some
kind of educational support. Standard testing, competition, privatization, etc.
which are common in other countries are not considered in the Finnish school
system.

The book gives a brief background of the Finnish education system and the reforms
of the 1960s and 1970s. It further provides the multidimensional reforms of the last
three decades which led to the success story of the education system.
Three Fallacies of Teachers & Teaching
1. The Quality of education system cannot exceed the quality of teachers
2. The most important single factor in improving quality of education is teachers
3. If any children had 3 great teachers in a row they would soar academically
regardless of their racial or economic background.

Three things we do not know

1. Finland never aimed to be the best great school for each and every child &
best school system in the world by 2020
2. The most trusted public institutions
a. Police- 90%
b. Education system 89%
c. Army- 83%
d. Health care -72%
e. Legal system- 72%
3. Finland does well overall

PISA means The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a worldwide

study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in

member and non-member nations of 15-year-old school pupils' scholastic
performance on mathematics, science, and reading.

Teacher Professionalism in Finland

Educating Teachers in Finland

Teachers training school

Departmental Structure
Research Based degrees
Advanced academic education

Educations system performance over time in Finland & developed nations

Lessons from Finland

More Collaboration, less competition
Standardize teacher preparation & not teaching
Sustained & productive context of learning cannot exists for students if they
simultaneously exists for teachers
Teaching profession is challenging it takes 10,000 hours to become a great
teacher.
It is equity which drives quality improvement, and not the other way round
Test less and learn more
Teaching is a dream job
Holistic learning
Personalization
Pedagogy the method of teaching
Trust