Spring 2021 Conference

Pasi Sahlberg is a Finnish educator who has worked as a schoolteacher, teacher-educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems and advised education leaders around the world. He has written and spoken widely about teaching and learning in school, teachers' work and school improvement, educational change, international education issues, and the future of schools. His book “Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” won the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for an idea that has potential to change the world. He is also a recipient of the 2012 Education Award in Finland, the 2014 Robert Owen Award in Scotland, the 2016 Lego Prize, and Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Resident Fellowship in 2017. He is a former senior education specialist at the World Bank (in Washington, DC), a lead education expert at the European Training Foundation (in Torino, Italy), a director general at the Finland’s Ministry of Education (CIMO), and a visiting Professor of Practice at Harvard University. He is a member of several international organizations, editorial boards, and advisory boards. His most recent book (co-authored with William Doyle) is "Let the Children Play: How more play will save our schools and help children thrive" (Oxford University Press, 2019) and forthcoming books "Finnish Lessons 3.0: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland” (Teachers College Press, 2021) and "In Teachers We Trust: The Finnish way to world-class schools" (Norton, 2021 with Tim Walker). He is Professor of Education Policy and Deputy Director of the Gonski Institute at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.