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Finnish Lessons 3.0

What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?

Third Edition

Pasi Sahlberg

Foreword by: Howard Gardner

Afterword by: Ken Robinson

Publication Date: January 8, 2021

Pages: 312

Available Formats
PAPERBACK
ISBN: 9780807764800
$33.95
HARDCOVER
ISBN: 9780807764817
$102.00
EBOOK
ISBN: 9780807779293
$33.95
Finnish Lessons 3.0 9780807764800
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • Contents

Description+

Finnish Lessons 3.0 updates the Grawemeyer Award Winning book about how a small Nordic nation built a school system that provides a world-class education for all of its young people.

Now available in 30 languages, this book continues to influence education policies and school practices around the globe. In this Third Edition, Pasi Sahlberg updates the story of how Finland sustains its exemplary educational performance, including how it responds to turbulent changes at home and throughout the world.

Finnish Lessons 3.0 includes important new material about:

  • teachers and teacher education
  • teaching children with special needs
  • the role of play in high-quality education
  • Finland’s responses to growing inequality, slipping international test scores, and the global pandemic

In the midst of national education reforms and global changes driven by public health crises and economic turbulence, Finnish Lessons 3.0 encourages teachers, students, and policymakers to think big and bold when they look for new solutions to improving their schools and entire education systems. This edition provides an even deeper dive into the present world of education in Finland in light of the most recent education statistics and international data, including PISA 2018, TIMSS 2016, and TALIS 2018.

Author+

Pasi Sahlberg is a professor of education policy at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. His books include Hard Questions on Global Educational Change: Policies, Practices, and the Future of Education. He received the 2021 Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) Hedley Beare Award for Educational Writing and the 2021 ACEL Dr. Paul Brock Memorial Medal. Visit Pasi’s website at www.pasisahlberg.com

Reviews+

International Praise for Previous Editions of Finnish Lessons!

“Finland’s approach to education reform shows we must address student inequality before we can expect student excellence.” —The 2013 Grawemeyer Award Committee

"For both educators and non-educators alike, Finnish Lessons 2.0 poses provocative ideas for reflection when contemplating the necessary inputs that contribute to educational success."

—Teachers College Record

"The story of Finnish educational success as told by Sahlberg in the slim volume Finnish Lessons is remarkable…this is an important book and educators need to read it."

—Educational Researcher

" Finnish Lessons 2.0 is compelling and well-written. It will be of particular interest to those involved in developing education policy, although the book is also highly accessible and should be recommended reading for principals, teachers and parents—even in Finland."

—Limina: A Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies

"Sahlberg’s work is enlightening in that it espouses an education system that is different from many other systems in advanced countries across the world and provides solid background on the historical context that allowed Finland’s education system to transform into a powerhouse."

—Education Review

"If you are interested in how to help your students be better citizens and part of a dynamic society, please read Finnish lessons 2.0."

—British Journal of Educational Technology

"What I find encouraging in Sahlberg’s book is his recurring note that no matter how dismal a country’s system may seem, there is hope and room for reform."

—Philippine Daily Inquirer

"Sahlberg’s book contains important lessons for a broad range of academics, educators, politicians, and the public."

—Science

"This book will give hope, vision, and strategies to anyone who is sincere in bringing a great education to every child. Pick it up and read it."

—Education Week's BookMarks

“What most impresses me is that Pasi Sahlberg articulates and embodies deep values about equity, fairness, personal growth, community bonding, societal flourishing, and global harmony, as well as the importance of helping every young person find an area of passion and then enabling its nurturance. These values come through in page after page in this volume and they are perhaps the chief reason that this book is destined to become a classic.”
—From the Foreword to Finnish Lessons 3.0 by Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education

“With Version 3.0 of Finnish Lessons, Pasi Sahlberg has made yet another invaluable contribution to creating education policies based on teacher professionalism, trust, respect, equality, and student engagement. The Finnish example offers a real alternative to the punitive education accountability systems found in far too many parts of the world. Every policymaker, parent, and teacher should read this book.”
—Tony Wagner, senior research fellow, Learning Policy Institute

“Finland’s approach to education reform shows we must address student inequality before we can expect student excellence.” —The 2013 Grawemeyer Award Committee

Contents+

Contents (Tentative)

Foreword Howard Gardner

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Where There’s a Will There’s a Way
Northern Exposure
Finland as an Inspiration
Learning From Others
The Plan of This Book

1. The Finnish Dream: A Good School for All
Postwar Finland
Universal Basic Education
The New School Is Born
Expanding Upper-Secondary Education
Improving Educational Attainment
Four Phases of Educational Change
The Finnish Education System in 2020
The Finnish Dream Challenged

2. The Finnish Paradox: Less Is More
From Periphery to Limelight
Educational Attainment
Equity of Outcomes
Student Learning
Cost of Education
Finnish Paradoxes of Education
The Perils of PISA

3. The Finnish Advantage: The Teachers
The Culture of Teaching
Becoming a Teacher
Research-Based Teacher Education
Teachers as Researchers
Professional Development
Teachers Are Leaders
School Leaders Are Teachers
Good Teachers, Great Schools
What If Finland’s Great Teachers Taught in Your Schools?

4. The Finnish Way: Competitive Welfare State
The Power of Globalization
The Global Educational Reform Movement
An Innovation Economy
Welfare, Equality, and Competitiveness
Foreign Innovation, Finnish Implementation
Myths About The Finnish School

5. Is the Future Finnish?
Success by Being Different
Successful Educational Reform
The Transfer of Change Knowledge
Stress Test for Finnish Schools
The Future of Finnish Education

Postscript Sir Ken Robinson

Notes

References

Index

About the Author

$33.95

Professors: Request an Exam Copy

Print copies available for US orders only. For orders outside the US, see our international distributors.

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