Sahlberg and Eddie Woo in conversation at the Opera House

Two education stars, Eddie Woo of WooTube of maths teaching fame and Pasi Sahlberg the current deputy director of the Gonski Institute for Education will have a conversation at the Sydney Opera house which is sure to poke some educational holy cows.

This is the first in a series of conversations and kicks-off a new partnership between the Sydney Opera House and the UNSW Gonski Institute for Education.

Prof Sahlberg’s first conversation with Eddie Woo and University of South Australia Associate Professor of Mathematics Amie Albrecht will take place on 29 April 2020.

Eddie Woo (Australia’s Local Hero 2018) has more than 800,000 subscribers on his “Wootube” channel and proves that maths can be fun and playful. His ethos is grounded in equity of access and he uses technology to expand his classroom. In 2018, Woo was one of ten finalists in the Global Teacher Prize.

Amie Albrecht’s award-winning teaching focusses on developing mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills by giving her students (who are pre-service teachers) opportunities to explore their own mathematical ideas. She has been invited to present more than 20 keynotes and workshops across Australia since 2016 to maths teachers and students, and is one of 16 women featured in the forthcoming Australian Women of Mathematics: A Gallery of Portraits.

On 2 June 2020, Sahlberg will host Canadian teacher Maggie MacDonnell who was the 2017 Global Teacher Prize winner for her work with First Nations communities in Canada. Since 2011, MacDonnell has been a teacher in the second northernmost Inuit community in Quebec, in a fly-in village called Salluit, where she has supported the 1300-strong community in improving school attendance and education outcomes. Through her approach of turning students from 'problems' to “'solutions', she has helped the young people develop life-skills and improved the physical and mental health of her students.

Sahlberg’s fourth guest (21 October 2020) is acclaimed American pediatrician and media expert, Dr Michael Rich, MD, MPH, otherwise known as the Mediatrician. Rich is the father of two teenage boys, and a former filmmaker and screen writer who has worked with legendary directors Akira Kurosawa and Francis Ford Coppola. He is currently Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health and the Director and Founder of the Center on Media and Child Health at Boston Children’s Hospital. He combines his creative experience with rigorous scientific evidence to advise pediatricians and parents about how to use media in ways that optimise child development.

Pasi Sahlberg is an author and scholar who has worked as a mathematics and science teacher, teacher-educator, researcher and policy advisor in Finland. He has studied education systems and advised on education system reforms around the world, publishing more than 170 academic and professional articles and 22 books on the topic.
He has held numerous senior expert roles in international organisations like the World Bank and the European Commission, and has been education policy advisor to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), Open Society Foundation, the Finnish Government and numerous others.

Sahlberg says, “Our research concludes that Australia has schools that are up there with the best in the world; but we tolerate a system where some students experience significant disadvantage and exclusion. These conversations are an open invitation to the Australian community about how this disparity and inequity can be addressed. Let’s discover new ideas to teaching, learning and parenting, and the importance of play – together.”

For more visit the Sydney Opera House website