Sahlberg's ten big ideas on Finland

In his book Finnish Lessons, Pasi Sahlberg identifies ten big ideas:

1. Finland has an education system in which young people learn well and performance differences among schools are small -- and all with reasonable cost and human effort

 2. This has not always been so.

3. In Finland, teaching is a prestigious profession, and many students aspire to be teachers.

4. Therefore, the Finns have probably the most competitive teacher education system in the world. 

5. As a consequence, teachers in Finland have a great deal of professional autonomy and access to purposeful professional development throughout their careers. 

6. Those who are lucky enough to become teachers normally are teachers for life. 

7. Almost half of the 16-year olds, when they leave comprehensive school have been engaged in some sort of special education, personalized help, or individual guidance. 

8. In Finland, teachers teach less and students spend less time studying both in and out of school than their peers in other countries. 

9. Finnish schools lack the standardized testing, test-preparation, and private tutoring of the United States and much of the world. 

10. All of the factors that are behind the Finnish success seem to be the opposite of what is taking place in the United States and much of the rest of the world, where competition, test-based accountability, standardization, and privatization seem to dominate.

That last point should be displayed on Google's home page for all to see.