leitura... da educação... lições finlandesas... de pasi sahlberg...!

"Finland has come to be known as a nation where educational quality, equity, and productivity exist simultaneously. Those interested in understanding how the Finns have managed to achieve this level of educational performance often point to good teachers, rigorous curricula, and small class sizes. Indeed, some believe that there is a set of such factors that make education systems work well. Then there are those who claim that Finland is too different because of its size and demographics to be taken seriously as a model for large-scale education reforms in countries like the United States, Canada or England. Yet all of these attempts to explain good educational performance in Finland fail to see the big picture. 

When trying to understand Finnish schools’ success it is good to keep in mind that Finland scores high in many other international comparisons besides education. Finland is one of the most competitive market economies in the world according to the World Economic Forum, which also rates Finland’s innovation system as a global leader. Corruption is likewise rare in Finland, reports Transparency International. Finally, people often forget that Finland is among the most equal countries in how wealth is distributed and in how women and men are empowered.

Gender equality is a particularly relevant variable to be included in the analysis of a country’s child welfare and education policies. Finnish women were the first in the world to have equal political rights. Since 1906, women in Finland have had the right to vote and stand for elections, 14 years before the United States issued these rights to women. Women and men don’t have equal political rights only in theory in Finland but women have exercised them actively since the beginning. 

At the moment, 43% of the members of Parliament and 47% of the government ministers are female in Finland. In 2000, the Finns elected the first woman to be the president of the country. Three years later, the first female prime minister took office. Today Finnish women enjoy unquestioned public respect as political leaders. In local governments, however, women are less represented; currently only one-third of elected representatives are women.

Countries vary significantly in gender equality, especially in politics. In the U.S. Senate and House, the power of female representation, at the moment, is the same, 17%. This means that men have six times the political weight of women in making policy. In England 22% of the Parliament is represented by women, barely exceeding the world’s average. Given the intimate understanding most women have of children’s needs, it stands to reason that women legislators probably make better policy for children. This is evident in not only Finland but also in its Nordic neighbors, which are likewise home to considerable female empowerment in both political and corporate spheres."

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