What if Finland's Great Teachers Taught in Your Schools?

Many governments are under political and economic pressure to turn their school systems around for higher rankings in the international league tables. Canada, South Korea, Singapore and Finland are commonly used models for the nations that hope to improve teaching and learning in their schools. In search of a silver bullet, reformers now turn their attention to teachers, believing that if only they could attract "the best and the brightest" into the teaching profession the quality of education would improve. This presentation argued that just having better teachers in schools will not automatically improve students' learning outcomes. Lessons from Finland and other high-performing school systems suggest that we should also protect schools from prescribed teaching, toxic accountability, and unhealthy competition, so that all teachers can use their professional knowledge and skills in the best interests of their pupils (source: youtube)
Pasi Sahlberg is Finnish educator, author and scholar. He has worked as schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems and reforms around the world. He is also a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, MA, USA.
World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) is an international, multi-sectoral and action-oriented platform for innovation in education.