Finnish Lessons
or more precisely, Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland?, is simply put the one must read to begin to understand how Finland has built perhaps the world's most successful educational system over the past few decades.
The author,Pasi Sahlberg, is currently Director General of CIMO (in the Ministry of Education) in Helsinki, Finland. He has been a teacher, a teacher educator, lived in the US while working at the World Bank. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, one of the premier professional organizations in education (disclosure, I am a member).
This will be an extensive examination of the book, in conjunction with additional commentary about Finland and what we can and cannot learn from their experience in education.
I disclose up front that I have met Sahlberg and am in contact with him electronically. I also disclose that as a professional teacher I start with a bias - that Finland takes teaching far more seriously than does the nation in which I live and teach.
I hope to persuade you that this is a very important book, that if you care about education, you should read it.
Please keep reading.