Pasi Sahlberg is a professor of educational leadership at the University of Melbourne, an internationally recognised thought leader, and a school improvement activist.

His extensive career in education spans roles as a schoolteacher in Helsinki, a curriculum reform leader at Finland’s National Agency of Education, and a senior education specialist at the World Bank in Washington and the European Commission in Italy. He has also been a visiting professor at Harvard University.

Pasi works at the intersection of education research, policy, and practice, collaborating with teachers, principals, school communities, and governments worldwide to transform teaching and learning. He is passionate about exploring futures of education and helping schools to be the best at continuously getting better.

Pasi’s lifelong work in education has been recognised globally with numerous awards and honors. He has received the 2012 Education Award in Finland, the 2013 Grawemeyer Award in the U.S., the 2014 Robert Owen Award in Scotland, the 2016 Lego Prize in Denmark, and the 2021 Hedley Beare Award in Australia.

A well-known writer whose work has appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world, Pasi is the author of over 20 books, including Let the Children Play: How More Play Can Save Our Schools and Help Children Thrive (2019) and In Teachers We Trust: The Finnish Way to World-Class Schools (2021).

Pasi moved from Helsinki to Sydney six years ago, where he served as a professor and deputy director of the Gonski Institute at UNSW. He now lives in South Melbourne with his wife and two sons.