[Pasi Sahlberg is no "one-trick-pony" ! Even though many educators point to Finland as an example of good practice in education it's not just priority funding that does it. Pasi insists that considerable accountability is built into their Finnish system. Also, they abide by basic principles of good management, that is, policy is NOT determined by teachers or unions who still push for "worker control of the workplace". I'm trying to spread the message about the comprehensive approach and this is another comment I made to a local newspaper http://www.surreyleader.com/news/258965971.html ]
Pasi Sahlberg On Education Policy Decision-making
Pasi says teachers should not dominate education affairs. Sure, they should be involved, but if there were 10 at a decision-making table about policy or broad issues and principles in education, only one should be a teacher.
Who is Pasi Sahlberg? He is the spokesman, the good will ambassador, for the Finnish way in public education. Finland achieves superior results in international education scores and thus attracts considerable attention — including education tourism when people hope to gain insights into good practice.
It’s not just administrations that are interested; Pasi is also the darling of teacher unions because he supports the mantra of “more funding”.
Whether it’s about teacher training, or special education or class size or funding formulas, the name of Pasi Sahlberg is frequently invoked as an authority. Well, here is one more area where Pasi should be listened to — policy making.
This insight came out as a result of recent attention about a teenager visiting Finland on a Ministry contract to study teacher training. It happens that while Anjali Vyas was in Finland to meet with Pasi another researcher was also there at the same time. It is from this researcher’s blog that we gain the profound observation from Pasi, quoted below:
“[Janet English on a Fulbright project] “I said to Pasi, "This disconnect (between policy and practice) is why I keep saying, 'Why aren’t the teachers at the decision-making table?' because if we don't have the teacher voice at the policy-making table we'll continue having the same problems we’re having now!"
He acknowledged my words, looked straight at me and replied, "There is a saying … that 'war is too important to be decided by the military people' and it's the same with education. I think education is too important to be decided by teachers — and this has nothing to do with undervaluing teachers' expertise — but their view is very different to education. I think teachers should have a say to these issues – exactly what you said _ how to decide the teaching, how you set the standards for your own kids, how you organize your school work — this should be left to the teachers. I think too often we intervene in the wrong areas of education — we try to control what each and every teacher is doing in the classroom. We should leave those things to the professionals. But the broad issues, the principles of education should be based on a more balanced view and that's why I would only have one practitioner in the room and divide this voice more equally to those who are the key stakeholders, (including) parents and the community members — not necessarily just those working or teaching in the school."
[English replied], "I've seen that community-driven, cooperative approach in Finland and it works. I agree with you."
From interview with Pasi http://
This whole interview is very enlightening and well-worth a full read.
DON’T FORGET THE THIRD “C” — CITIZENSHIP !
The original documents on Common Core always had three Cs — Career, College and Citizenship Readiness.
The BIG QUESTION is — Why was “citizenship” dropped from much of the narrative when it is really THE MAIN AGENDA of all these 21st C Learning projects?
It’s been dropped, I surmise, because it was taking on an appearance, a perception, of “proselytizing”, and we know that’s WRONG. Public education is supposed to be secular — free of religion — at least in Western developed democratic nations.
So, Marxism (a political ideology acting like a religion), Social Emotional Learning, spirituality, and even the totalitarian “oneness” of certain established faiths are minimized while banging away at College and Career Readiness.
Yet, OBEDIENCE, mass obedience to one central command system — a New World Order — is still the assumption governing these high level conferences, their reports, etc. “Sustainability “ just happens to be the most acceptable excuse around with which to align formation and compliance with a rent-seeking society — citizens enslaved to public-centric jobs, services, and a dumbed-down Grade 6 education. Why Grade 6? Because that’s the target level of slick propaganda. Because Dummies books are at that level. And, because Grade 6 can be monitored and tracked through technology — all our games, phones, assessments . . . Somewhere it was established that a Grade 6 level would be most pliable and manageable! A small, educated elite can thus manage a two-tier populace.
What’s the quality of life in an unfree world? How can one be free when all is programmed? Figuratively, and biblically, why was the Tower of Babel split asunder into many languages and many nations? Doesn’t that make sense, today, when biological, economic, and psychological survival demands diversity and choice? “What shall we do?” I, for one, am seeking counter-measures to this mixmaster education transformation now being engineered.
So, I have a story to tell. Remember how our blog author feels so excluded from all these high level conferences? Well, I got invited to one, and can still register before tomorrow. Here is the item.
EdSource symposium to tackle ‘seminal’ public school reforms (about public ed reforms in California, in partnership with California State PTA — to bring everyone up-to-date with Common Core implementation).
http://edsource.org/2014/edsource-symposium-to-tackle-seminal-public-school-reforms/61134#.U17E_q1dVNK
Now, here’s the clincher, the keystone to make this conference really, really credible. One of the main speakers is Michael Fullan and here is how he’s described:
“ . . .school reform expert Michael Fullan, the former dean at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto who is credited with leading a whole scale transformation of the Ontario, Canada school system. He’ll keynote a session on what it will take to reform education in California.”
Now, I’m from Canada, and a professor in a teacher education faculty asked me a question to something I had written. Now, professors, are in a privileged level of knowledge about things educational, and he said, to this effect: “ I didn’t know Ontario was on board for 21st Century Learning, along with Alberta and British Columbia. Where can I find out about this?”
I pointed him to a document, APRIL, 2014, The Ontario Report is called — Achieving Excellence – A Renewed Vision for Education in Ontario, April 2014
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/about/excellent.html
The irony of this Ontario exercise and this announcement and report is that it’s all PRO FORMA — an accomplished fact. Without real public knowledge or involvement Ontario has a new transformative education plan laid out.
A 1976 OECD report on Canadian education said Canada’s public consultations are largely “pro forma “ exercises, — done as a formality, perfunctory.
This’s how most of 21st Century Learning projects — world-wide — seem to be going. Does anyone feel “used”?