Vragen van Edusceptic bij geloofwaardigheid van Pasi Sahlbergs Finnish lessons.

 Sahlberg is al een paar jaar Fins onderwijsambassadeur (= propagandist van Fins onderwijsparadijs).

Op de  onderwijsblog van prof. em. Diane Ravitch reageert “eduscpetic’ op de voortdurende loftuitingen van Ravitch aan het adres van Sahlberg en de door Pasi gepropageerde onderwijsvisie.  De Amerikaanse prof. Ravitch behoort van de fanclub van Pasi Sahlberg – samen met prof. Andy Hargreaves.  Deze 3 mensen drukken in hun tweets bijna dagelijks hun onderlinge bewondering voor elkaar uit.

Edusceptic reageert vandaag op een bijdrage op de blog van Ravitch: Pasi Sahlberg Explains Finnish Philosophy of Education to Rhode Island Policymakers http://wp.me/p2odLa-6Dt

1.Kritiek van eduskeptic :           

NOT MANY FINNS agree with Mr. Sahlberg’s interpretations. Mr. Sahlberg please identify the Finnish body that authorized you to speak about national education system. For such high-level representation, some guarantees of accuracy are required.

2.Reply dianer ravitch     

I don’t think Pasi Sahlberg needs to get government approval to describe Finnish education. Did he get government approval to write a book about Finnish education. I write about U.S. education and I don’t have government approval. That is called censorship.

3. Verdere kritiek van eduskeptic          

Some guys use such enticing language about a favorite topic that we tend to believe them instinctively. Then we form opinions on the basis of what they say. Some of the people that are currently ruining US education sound just as attractive as Mr. Sahlberg when they praise TFA.

Finland is not a country that many people know, so the influence of one photogenic spokesman has had quite an effect. Please consider asking:

-Which references does Mr. Sahlberg cite for the description of the Finnish system, its policies and labor effects? -Which data does he use other than international tests? -In which peer-reviewed journals has he published about these topics? -What do credible academics (or even Finnish embassy staff) think of his pronouncements regarding their system?-How credible is this work in Finland? Which entities finance his travels around the world?

 Finland is a very minor issue in this debate of course. The centerpoint is willingness to believe people who sound very confident about issues people know very little. This how industrialists who masquerade as philanthropists manage to run the US education system.

School systems of any country are like the elephant that blind people are trying to describe. ANY conclusions are possible, and reams of books are written on this basis. Similarly admiring conclusions have been written about the US system. And if you read them, you would not recognize the country.

The issue of course is not Finland. It is the speakers, financiers, and your conclusions after hearing them. That’s because nothing is left to chance in the big privatization game. If you dig a bit into the financing sources, you may be surprised.