- Lecturer: Manabu Sato, Professor, Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo
- Date & Time: Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 12:15－1:15 pm
- Venue: Kabayama-Matsumoto Room, International House of Japan
- Admission: Lecture only: 1,500 yen (IHJ Members: 1,000 yen)
- Lecture and lunch ticket: 3,000 yen (IHJ Members: 2,000 yen)
- Language: Japanese (no English translation provided)
Lecture Report
Since the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) started the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) evaluations in 2000, Finland, with the highest general score three times in a row, has drawn the world’s attention for its education system. (In the 2006 programme, 57 countries participated. Japan ranked fifteenth in reading literacy and sixth in scientific literacy.) The reason Finland ranks top in the world is often attributed to its uniqueness as a country, being a small welfare state and having a small immigrant population. However there are lessons Japan and other countries could learn from Finland. This lecture invites Prof. Manabu Sato, who has interviewed the former Education Minister, Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, who led educational reforms in Finland to talk about the situation of Japanese education in the world by introducing Finnish education, detailing the characteristics of its classes and how it might be applied to education in the Japanese context.
Manabu Sato
Born in 1951. Graduated from the Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo. President of the Japanese Educational Research Association since 2004. He specializes in school reform and school curriculum. He has visited more than 1500 schools in Japan and 300 schools abroad and promotes school reform from within the schools in cooperation with teachers. His books include, Jugyo o kaeru gakkou ga kawaru sogogakushu kara karikyuramu no sozo e [Changing Classes Changes Schools—From Integrated Study to Curriculum Innovation] (Shogakukan, 2000), Shujukudobetsushido no naniga mondaika [The Issue of Competence-based Teaching] (Iwanami Booklet, 2004), and Olli-Pekka Heinonen “gakuryoku sekaiichi” ga motarasumono [Olli-Pekka Heinonen What “World’s Top-ranked School Achievement” Provides] (NHK Books, 2007).