ABSTRACT
Pasi Sahlberg1 is to be credited with the acronym “GERM,” which stands for the “Global Educational Reform Movement.” The GERM has been the reigning ideology in many schools and systems under the old imperatives. It has five components:
1 the standardization of learning and teaching; 2 emphasis on numeracy and literacy to the neglect of other
subjects; 3 curricular prescription; 4 marketplace models of reform; and 5 accountability and surveillance through testing.
