Monday 15th November

Professor of Education Policy, UNSW’s Gonski Institute

Pasi Sahlberg is a professor of education policy at the UNSW Sydney. He is a Finnish educator and author who has worked as schoolteacher, teacher educator, researcher, and policy advisor in Finland and has studied education systems, analysed education policies, and advised education reforms around the world. Professor Sahlberg is an inspirational speaker, lecturer and trainer. His passion is to advice and work with schools, communities, and nations to reimagining teaching and learning, school education, and system-wide efforts to improve equity and quality of education. He has gained working knowledge in over 60 countries around the world as a former senior education specialist at the World Bank in Washington DC, the European Commission in Torino, and director general of the Ministry of Education in Finland. His recent books include His recent books include “FinnishED Leadership: Four Big, Inexpensive Ideas to Transform Education” (2018), “Let the Children Play: Why More Play Will Save Our Schools and Help Children Thrive” (2019 with William Doyle), “Finnish Lessons 3.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland” (2021) and “In Teacher We Trust: The Finnish way to world- class schools” (2021 with Tim Walker). More in Twitter @pasi_sahlberg.

Hon. Professor – School of Education at UNSW

Professor Adrian Piccoli is the former Director of UNSW’s Gonski Institute for Education. The Gonski Institute was established in 2018 with a mission to address growing inequality in Australian education as well as improving access for students to high-quality education wherever they may live or go to school. Prior to his role with the Gonski Institute for Education, Professor Piccoli served as a Member of NSW Parliament for 19 years and as the NSW Minister for Education for 6 years from 2011 until 2017. Professor Piccoli is highly respected by the Australian education sector for his leadership in education policy particularly in relation to needs based school funding reform, his support and strengthening of the teaching profession in Australia and his focus on the learning needs of disadvantaged children particularly those living in rural and remote Australia. In 2017 he was made a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders. Adrian has recently published his first book, 12 Ways Your Child Can Get the Best Out of School. Adrian lives in Griffith, western NSW with his wife Sonia and their two children aged 9 and 12.