ABSTRACT
The original idea for the Global Education Reform Movement, or GERM as it is also known, derives from Andy Hargreaves and his research on educational change. GERM is inspired by three distinct educational phenomena. The first was the breakthrough of constructivist approaches to learning that gradually shifted the focus of education reforms from the teacher to the student, and especially learning, in the late 1980s. The second was the growing public demand in the 1990s for guaranteed, effective learning for all pupils. The third common feature of the global education reform movement is an increasing importance of reading literacy, mathematics, and science in schools, often at the expense of arts, music, physical education, and social studies. A typical feature of teaching and learning in Finland is high confidence in teachers and principals regarding curriculum, assessment, organization of teaching, and evaluation of the work of the school.
