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Equity has become a central principle in educational policy and leadership around the world. However, there is a wide range of interpretations of equity and what it means in education. In this arti...

This excerpt from Let the Children Play by Pasi Sahlberg and William Doyle (Oxford University Press, 2019) describes how a Long Island school district began giving children more time for unstructured play during the school day by doubling the recess period, extending lunch, launching optional play clubs, and creating spaces for unstructured activity. At the same time, the district superintendent de-emphasized test scores and discouraged homework. Students began coming to class better prepared for learning, disciplinary problems went down, and student attendance went up.

Outdoor Learning in natural environments is a burgeoning approach in the educational sector. However, the evidence-base of research has not kept pace with teacher perceptions and increased practitioner usage. Anecdotal evidence and formal research suggest the significant health and wellbeing benefits of nature connection. Offering low-cost, non-invasive pedagogical solutions to public health challenges—particularly around mental health, wellbeing, physical literacy, and increasing physical activity–the pedagogical benefits of Outdoor Learning are yet to be fully enunciated. The proposed systematic review will search for studies across eight academic databases which measure the academic and socio-emotional benefits of Outdoor Learning, with a focus on school-aged educational settings. Using the inclusion criteria set out in this paper (and registered with PROSPERO: CRD42020153171), relevant studies will be identified then summarised to provide a synthesis of the current literature on Outdoor Learning. The goal of this review is to document the widespread international investigation into Outdoor Learning and its associated benefits for development, wellbeing, and personal growth. The systematic review will provide insights for teacher-training institutions, educational policy makers, and frontline teachers to improve the learning experiences of future students.

Everybody agrees that the COVID-19 pandemic is a big disruption in education. It questions many traditional rules and structures that have organised the work of schools in the past. But not everyone agrees that the pandemic will eventually change schools. In this article, I narrow the scope of that question and ask whether the pandemic helps us fix some of the pre-existing inequalities that we were unable, and often unwilling, to improve. I argue that as we think about how education should be reimagined, it is paramount to continue efforts to make education more inclusive, fairer and equitable for all. I take some early examples from two distinct education systems, Australia and Finland, to highlight how disrupted teaching caused by school closures has had different impacts on schools and teachers. The conclusion is that the pandemic may help make education more equitable if current socio-economic inequalities are addressed early on; teachers and principals are trusted more in leading schools forward in the post-pandemic world; and schools and children are supported to become more self-directed in leading and learning.

PurposeThis essay offers a perspective for practitioners and decision-makers to look beyond short-term recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and consider longer-term consequences that it may have on schools.Design/methodology/approachIn this essay, I discuss some general observations about education during the pandemic and then provide a perspective to some issues related to educational inequalities and learning from home during the pandemic. The essay is informed by recent media articles and reports of national and international institutions.FindingsThis essay makes three claims: Despite high hopes, there is only a little chance schools will change as a consequence of this pandemic without bold and brave shifts in mindset in how that change happens. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the effects of preexisting social and educational inequalities; fixing these would be an important consequence of the pandemic. During school closures, learning from home has been mostly based on the old logic of consuming information and knowledge rather than creating or cocreating new ideas and solutions to real-life problems.Research limitations/implicationsThis is an essay that offers evidence-informed perspectives to current development in education, and it should not be treated as a research-based article.Originality/valueThis essay will contribute to the evolving public conversation and professional debate on the future of school education. It will be part of the series of essays that will support those who are seeking to not just adapt to meet the pandemic but also to step back and consider the medium to longer-term implications.

olicy makers are challenged to improve educational outcomes, manage scarce resources and secure public acceptance of their initiatives to provide quality, relevant and effective education. In making decisions they are pulled between competing ideologies about the process and purposes of schooling. This paper explores these ideologies and suggests tensions between them. The paper also suggests a way forward for those seeking to established evidence based, context sensitive policies and practices.

The global education race is on. School systems around the world focus on ‘raising the bar’ in order to achieve ‘educational excellence’ and higher ranks in international league tables. National and international tests keep teachers and schools on course. At the end of the day, however, teachers are held accountable for that. This chapter suggest an alternative theory of change for Australia. Flipping the system to move from accountability and control to trust and empowerment requires three bold education policy transformations: (1) From state-led to school-based curriculum; (2) from standardised teaching to individualised learning; and (3) from funding schools equally to invest in equity strategically. Australia has many advantages to build great schools for all of its children. This chapter concludes that rather than launch another massive education reform, Australia should flip the system by empowering its highly capable teachers and schools to lead the way towards more equitable education.

Two decades ago the global landscape of education was very different than it is today. Although international tests to compare what students knew existed then, there was not a commonly accepted ind...

Globalization has typically been interpreted using economic, political, and cultural terms. Depending on the perspective, it has been seen as a transition from a Fordist workplace orientation to internationalized trade and consumption. Globalization is also leading to a diminishing role of nation-states and loss of their sovereignty, and the emergence of global hegemony of transnational media and entertainment corporations.

International student assessments have become the most significant pretext for education policy development and large-scale reforms. Finland is an example of a nation that has enjoyed global attention and unexpected credit due to its high performance in all four OECD PISA surveys. This article examines the current education system in Finland through three perspectives. First, the basic Finnish educational landscape since WWII until the 1970s will be briefly described. The article then argues that contemporary educational change in Finland can be divided into three phases and respective logics: (a) challenging the theoretical and methodological foundation of schooling, (b) improving education through networking and self-regulated change, and (c) enhancing efficiency of structures and administration. As a conclusion, this article claims that Finland’s educational system can be better understood through paradoxes rather than through the pure logic of change. Futhermore, it concludes that only a few directly transferrable educational ideas from Finland are relevant to the practices of other nations.

Accelerating threats to a sustainable relationship between economic growth and the capacity of the global social-ecological system to support it require that the implications of competitiveness be reassessed. Today, the capacities that underlie economic competitiveness must also be brought to bear on policy and pedagogy to prepare the coming generation to face an unprecedented and dangerous global future. This article argues that the bureaucratic ‘industrial’, standards-driven model of schooling currently fails to release the talents of students either for the competitiveness or collaboration that will be crucial in facing the demands of the decades ahead. It argues for policies, schools and pedagogies that promote creativity and a human capacity for innovation, not the relentless pursuit of externally imposed measurable standards. The types of necessary learning experiences are explored and examples are provided of principles and practices that teachers and schools need to develop further. Education for economic competitiveness on one hand and education for sustainable development on the other both require similar open minds, creative skills and teaching methods to prepare students for the transformations and innovations ahead. In answering the question ‘what do competitiveness and sustainable development require from schools and teachers?’ we conclude that most elements of appropriate pedagogies are available but they need to be extended. Managing their extension on a large scale to transform complex education systems is a major challenge for policy-makers and educators at all levels.

Armenia is in the midst of major educational reforms in which teacher professional development is a key component. Much of the energy devoted to developing education in Armenia is targeted towards enhancing student‐centred teaching, especially cooperative learning. This has become a significant challenge for many schools and teachers as they cope with understanding, learning and adapting these approaches in their current work. This paper explores teachers’ views and understanding of cooperative learning and then discusses how national education policies should address further implementation of cooperative learning in Armenian schools. Data were collected through a large‐scale nationwide survey and focus‐group interviews. Observations in training workshops on cooperative learning also constitute part of the data used in this study. The main finding is that most teachers believe that they have adequate knowledge and understanding of cooperative learning after attending the training workshops, but that only ...

The notion of a knowledge society has led policy‐makers and reformers to look for classroom practices that would lead to more productive learning in schools. Modern educational technologies are often thought to transform the traditional presentation–recitation mode of instruction into more participatory learning. This paper assumes that teaching for modern intercultural knowledge societies should rely on multilateral communication, students’ ideas and social interaction. Based on observation data from 303 upper secondary school classrooms in randomly selected schools which were analysed using Flanders Interaction Analysis Categories, this study found that these basic conditions for productive teaching, such as cooperative learning were missing in most classrooms. These data suggest that typical secondary school lessons are dominated by teacher talk and that time for student‐initiated talk is about 1% of total lesson time. This study also confirmed that classrooms provide a poor psychological and social en...

Many countries whose economies are in transition have initiated ambitious education reforms intended to modernize their education systems to better respond to the needs of new social and economic realities. Albania is a good example of a society that is emerging from a closed planned socialist system and moving fast to an open society and knowledge‐based economy. As an essential tool in transforming people's knowledge and skills to promote a knowledge society, teaching must reflect, among other things, an active role for students and multilateral communication to support productive learning in classrooms. The aim of this study was to generate scientific evidence for policy‐makers about whether teaching in the first grade of upper secondary schools meets these criteria. Based on our observation data from 303 classrooms in 34 schools in Albania, analyzed using the categories of Flanders' interaction analysis, we found that teacher talk occupies more than 70% of all lesson time and that student‐initiated tal...

Competition between schools combined with test-based accountability to hold schools accountable for predetermined knowledge standards have become a common solution in educational change efforts to improve the performance of educational systems around the world. This is happening as family and community social capital declines in most parts of developed world. Increased competition and individualism are not necessarily beneficial to creating social capital in schools and their communities. This article argues that: (1) the evidence remains controversial that test-based accountability policies improve the quality and efficiency of public education; (2) the current practice of determining educational performance by using primarily standardized knowledge tests as the main means of accountability is not a necessary condition for much needed educational improvement; and (3) there is growing evidence that increased high-stakes testing is restricting students’ conceptual learning, engaging in creative action and understanding innovation, all of which are essential elements of contemporary schooling in a knowledge society. Finland is used as an example to suggest that educational change should rather contribute to increasing networking and social capital in schools and in their communities through building trust and strengthening collective responsibilities within and between schools. This would create better prospects of worthwhile lifelong learning in and out of schools. Based on this analysis, the article concludes that education policies should be directed at promoting more intelligent forms of accountability to meet external accountability demands and to encourage cooperation rather than competition among students, teachers and schools.

Educational excellence in a school or a nation is not only about statistical averages of student achievement. It also entails the idea that all or most of the students regardless of their abilities, family backgrounds, mother tongue or other characteristics, should enjoy learning and succeed in school. But since we are all different, school systems find meeting this ideal difficult. Students who need more time to learn or have special needs related to learning are often moved to special class or asked to repeat a grade instead of being helped to progress with their peers. We answer the question in the title of this essay by using Finland as an example of an education system that has moved from remedying learning problems, i.e., using grade retention as a cure, to preventing learning difficulties, and relying on early intervention and individualized support to all students. This essay provides therefore historical perspective to the evolution of policies regarding educational failure in general and grade repetition in particular. Education policies since the 1970s in Finland—a nation often regarded as an international model due to its equitable and system-wide high academic performances—have been particularly crafted to reduce educational failure of students and promote success of all schools (Sahlberg 2007). This has led to high completion and low grade repetition rates that characterize the Finnish education system today. Indeed, fewer than 2% of students who leave the compulsory nine-grade comprehensive school today at the age of 16 have repeated a grade at some point of schooling. Grade repetition is at similar level in other Nordic countries but much higher elsewhere in Europe; in France 40%, Belgium, in the Netherlands and Spain one third and in Germany and Switzerland one quarter of students are grade repeaters.

In domains like math and science, Finnish performance was near the international average in the first and second rounds of International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Outcomes (IEA) mathematics and science studies in the 1970s and 1980s. This chapter describes how market forces and globalization have shaped the Finnish education system. In order to understand education or any other aspect of Finland requires studying how social, cultural, political, and economic aspects have been interconnected to one another and to education. The serious economic recession of the early 1990s caused some major shifts in Finland, leading to exceptional economic growth. Before Finland's success on PISA, there was very little interest outside Finland in the Finnish education system. The idea of the Global Education Reform Movement, or GERM, evolved from the international exchange of education policies and 'best practices' between education systems.

This article argues that system‐wide excellence in student learning is attainable at reasonable cost, using education policies differing from conventional market‐oriented reform strategies prevalent in many other countries. In this respect, Finland is an example of a nation that has developed from a remote agrarian/industrial state in the 1950s to a model knowledge economy, using education as the key to economic and social development. Relying on data from international student assessments and earlier policy analysis, this article describes how steady improvement in student learning has been attained through Finnish education policies based on equity, flexibility, creativity, teacher professionalism and trust. Unlike many other education systems, consequential accountability accompanied by high‐stakes testing and externally determined learning standards has not been part of Finnish education policies. The insight is that Finnish education policies intended to raise student achievement have been built upon...

P. Sahlberg, Lead Education Specialist, European Training Foundation Globalization has increased economic competition within and between countries and the world’s regions. Economic competitiveness is commonly seen as a valid index for judging a country’s level of economic prosperity. Many recent large-scale education reforms have been justified by the urgent need to increase labor productivity and promote economic development and growth through expanded and improved education. It is generally assumed that to increase economic competitiveness, citizens must acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for civic success and the knowledge-based economy. This article argues that what schools are expected to do in order to promote economic competitiveness often contradicts commonly accepted global education reform thinking. Experience in many countries indicates that increased standardization of teaching and learning, for example, may be counterproductive to the expectations of enhanced economic competitiveness. The conclusion is that rather than competition between education systems, schools and students, what is needed is networking, deeper co-operation and open sharing of ideas at all levels if the role of education in economic competitiveness is to be strengthened. The key features of education reform policies that are compatible with competitiveness are those that encourage flexibility in education systems, creativity in schools and risk-taking without fear on the part of individuals.

In recent years, Mathematics teaching has been confronted by demands for higher standards and better pupil achievement in several parts of the world. Researchers have suggested the shift from teacher‐centred instruction towards more active participatory learning methods as one way to improve the quality of the teaching and learning process. The tension between whole‐class teaching versus small group learning in Mathematics has been particularly apparent in many education systems. This article analyses the development of Mathematics teaching by asking whether small group learning is an effective arrangement in teaching school Mathematics. We conclude that although there is no unanimity about the affects of small group learning on student achievement in school Mathematics, it seems that it produces at least equal academic outcomes among all students compared to more traditional methods of instruction. Working in pairs is a particularly effective form of learning Mathematics and that small groups ar...

Individuals' epistemological conceptions, beliefs and ideas have become an interesting component for research on understanding how pupils learn in the modern classroom. This paper describes a research project that had two aims: (1) to design a user-friendly device for classroom teachers to be able to investigate their pupils' ideas about learning; (2) to use the device to compare pupils' ideas of learning between England and Finland. We report that pupils' (aged 14–15) ideas of learning are varied, with no clear understanding of how they learn. In carrying out the study, we also noticed small national differences between pupils' ideas. For example, Finnish pupils seem to show more dependence on their teacher than their peers in England.

In the early 1970s – a century after the first Finnish novel Seven Brothers was published – Finland was known for its long-distance runners, introverted people, saunas on lakes, and successful political coexistence with the Soviet Union. In those days, the Finnish economy was characterized by traditional agriculture and it relied on forestry and heavy-metal industries. Being a rather poor member within a much wealthier family of industrial market economies, Finland was ranked in the lower half of the OECD nations. The Finnish education system had only a few features that attracted any praise among international observers and many education policy ideas were adopted from its wealthier Western neighbor, Sweden. Indeed, Finland’s education system was recognized internationally exceptional only on one account: Finnish 10-year-olds were among the best readers in the world (Allerup & Mejding, 2003; Elley, 1992).

Monográfico con el título: 'El desafío de la calidad de la Educación Secundaria : una perspectiva comparada'. Resumen basado en el de la publicación La Educación Secundaria ha estado en el centro del desarrollo de las políticas sociales y el sistema educativo en Finlandia desde la década de 1980. Después de crear, en los años 70, una escuela comprensiva que dura nueve años y es igual para todos los alumnos, los objetivos de la política educativa han sido siempre que todos los que dejan la escuela básica puedan tener acceso a la educación superior que elijan. El sistema educativo finlandés está considerado como un estándar internacional de la buena calidad, junto con su condición de equidad y acceso a todo el sistema. Se analiza el doble reto -o sea, calidad de y acceso a la educación secundaria- a través de tres dimensiones: la tasa de transición de la Educación Secundaria Básica a la Educación Secundaria Superior, tasas de finalización de la Educación Secundaria y el aprendizaje de los alumnos. Se argumenta que Finlandia ha sido capaz de crear un sistema de Educación Secundaria que funciona bien a un coste razonable, porque ha utilizado estrategias de reforma educativa basadas en (1) una visión a largo plazo de una buena Educación Secundaria para todos; (2) mejorar la calidad de la Educación Primaria para todos los niños; (3) diseñar un sistema de intervención temprana y asesoramiento y consejo educativo en los centros educativos de Primaria y Secundaria; (4) ayudar a todos los alumnos a tener éxito en la transición de Primaria a Secundaria y crear caminos de segundas oportunidades para incrementar las tasas de éxito; y (5) promover la construcción de la capacidad lateral en la que las escuelas y los municipios aprenden unos de otros. La experiencia en Finlandia sugiere que mejorar la calidad de la Educación Secundaria requiere políticas sostenibles y liderazgo, cultivando profesionalidad y confianza en todo el sistema educativo, y acercamientos inteligentes al currículum y a la responsabilidad. Andalucía ESP