Finnish Lessons 2.

0: What
Can the World Learn
from Educational Change
in Finland?
 By
Pasi Sahlberg
Teachers College Press
 The first edition of Finnish Lessons won the prestigious
Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2013. It was featured in The
New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of
Books, The Atlantic, The Guardian, CNN, Education Week, The
Huffington Post, and Dan Rather Reports and has been translated
into 16 languages.

Now, with Finnish Lessons 2.0, Pasi Sahlberg has thoroughly

updated his groundbreaking account of how Finland built a world-
class education system during the past four decades. In this
international bestseller, Sahlberg traces the evolution of Finnish
education policies and highlights how they differ from the United
States and much of the rest of the world. Featuring substantial
additions throughout the text, Finnish Lessons 2.0 demonstrates how
systematically focusing on teacher and leader professionalism,
building trust between the society and its schools, and investing in
educational equity rather than competition, choice, and other
market-based reforms make Finnish schools an international model
of success. This second edition details the complexity of meaningful
change by examining Finland’s educational performance in light of
the most recent international assessment data and domestic changes.
In the midst of continuous local reforms and global changes,
Finnish Lessons 2.0 encourages educators, students, and
policymakers to look beyond their own borders as they seek
successful solutions for their education systems, districts, and
schools.

International Acclaim for the first edition of Finnish Lessons:

“Sahlberg speaks directly to the sense of crisis about educational

 achievement in the United States and many other nations.”

Diane Ravitch in The New York Review of Books, March 8, 2012

“This book will give hope, vision, and strategies to anyone who is
sincere in bringing a great education to every child. Pick it up and
read it.”

John Wilson in Education Week, May 9, 2012

“Sahlberg’s book contains important insights for a broad range of

academics, educators, politicians, and the public.”

Henrik Saalbach in Science, Vol. 336, June 2012

“ Finnish Lessons is an important book and educators need to read

it.”

Gaea Leinhardt in Educational Researcher, 41(7), 271-273,

September 2012

“Every educator and every parent in America should read Pasi

Sahlberg’s book, Finnish Lessons.”

Howard Gardner in The Huffington Post, September 30, 2012

“Kills 99.9% of GERMs”

Niall MacKinnon in Times Education Supplement, November 11,

 2011

“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.”

Kenneth Bernstein in Daily Kos, December 29, 2011

“His new book, Finnish Lessons, tells the story of educational

reform and change in Finland over the past fifty years and as he tells
the story, it becomes less miraculous and more obviously the outline
of a purposeful, thoughtful, and coherent strategy for school
improvement.”

Jon McGill in Baltimore Curriculum Project, March 7, 2012

“ Finnish Lessons provides insight into the historical context which

underlies Finland’s educational success. It sounds too good to be
true, and for countries that lack the same degree of social capital, it
may well be. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt that all nations could
benefit from taking some pages from Finland’s play book.”

National Council of Teacher Quality, March 30, 2012

“Pasi Sahlberg, in his landmark book Finnish Lessons, makes the

point that Finland’s development of extensive student achievement
standards proved to be a very important landmark on the trajectory
of Finland’s rise to world class status in the education arena.”

Marc Tucker in Education Week, May 29,2012

 “ Finnish Lessons provides valuable evidence that investing in
teachers and instruction--rather than in tests and inspections--can
bring about admirable, even excellent, results.”

Connie Goddard in Teachers College Record, January 26, 2012

“If we can adapt any part of these Finnish lessons by applying them
in our own settings, perhaps the wicked problem of reforming
education and lifelong learning in our country will become a little
less wicked.”

Paul Signorelli in Building Creative Bridges, February 5, 2013

“The greatest value of his book is not his description of what

Finnish schools are doing now. The test scores can tell us that. But
he also shows us how the schools achieved their successes, and
where they might go from here.”

Crawford Kilian, The Tyee, March 26, 2013

Teachers College Press

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