Reads that Resonate: Cleverlands

Reads that Resonate: Cleverlands by Lucy Crehan

What Makes Cleverlands Truly Clever?

I’ve read Cleverlands twice and listened to it once on Audible. Needless to say, I found it a brilliant read/listen. The journey, the process, and the story that Lucy Crehan tells are nothing short of insightful and inspirational.

In Cleverlands, teacher-turned-researcher Lucy Crehan takes us on a journey through five of the world’s top-performing education systems: Finland, Japan, Singapore, Shanghai, and Canada. Drawing from firsthand classroom experience and extensive research, Crehan explores what makes these systems thrive and how their successes can inspire educational reform elsewhere. The journey Lucy describes, finding homestays, offers a deeper insight into the project and the relationships formed.

The book challenges assumptions about education and highlights surprising commonalities among these nations, such as the importance of teacher status, rigorous training, and a culture of collaboration. Crehan also delves into how cultural values shape educational priorities, the balance between academic rigor and student well-being, and the role of trust in teachers and schools.

What makes Cleverlands stand out is its balanced approach; it doesn’t advocate copying and pasting policies but encourages readers to think critically about what works and why. Crehan’s insights are for educators, policymakers, and parents to reflect on the kind of education system that fosters both excellence and equity.

One aspect I really resonated with was the recommendation for breaks between lessons. Reading this during a week I’d pledged to drink more water, I found myself scuttling to the bathroom more often and stressing about being late for the next lesson. Why, I asked myself, are we so intent on maximising every minute of the day? Why can’t students and teachers have rest between each lesson? It made me think of the corporate world too. Teachers are performers, leaders of meetings; we would not expect office colleagues to present from one meeting to the next without breaks. Yet for students, it’s the norm to go from lesson to lesson, listening intently, participating, performing, and sitting still. How exhausting!

This idea led me to reflect on what is truly right in today’s education and what sustainable ways we can adopt for organising and operating schools.

Whether you’re passionate about education or simply curious about global success stories, Cleverlands offers a compelling vision of what’s possible when a society commits to prioritising learning.