1. NAFOL Seminar Jón Torfi Jónasson,
School of Education, University of Iceland
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

2. Icelandic education – Teacher education –
NAFOL Joint PhD seminar School of Education University of Iceland Reykjavík Iceland August 27-31
Joint PhD seminar
NAFOL Cohort 6 Cohort coordinator
Professor Kari Smith
Icelandic leader
Professor Ólöf Garðarsdóttir
Icelandic education – Teacher education –
Grand Challenges for Education
What is important in the educational discourse and why?
Jón Torfi Jónasson,
School of Education, University of Iceland

3. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Icelandic education
The form – the system
Characteristics of development
Based on the paper: Jón Torfi Jónasson and Gunnhildur Óskarsdóttir. (2016). Iceland: Educational structure and development. In T. Sprague (Ed.), Education in non-EU countries in Western and Southern Europe, pp Series: Education Around the World. London: Bloomsbury. ePub:
Issues being discussed
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

4. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
A crude outline of the system. It is not clear what it describes. Until now this does not describe what actually happens, even though governments strive towards gradually fitting the reality into their boxes.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

5. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Pre-school enrolment rates for the period
Note how grouping together 0-2 year old children would give a misleading picture.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

6. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Why is comparative education more interested in differences than similarities?
Which age groups are “compelled” to go to “school” even when it is not compulsory?
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

7. Icelandic education – its development
The importance of a long-term perspective. Preferably more than a century – half a century may be revealing. Ten or even twenty years may not be interesting as they don’t show the underlying developments. Still short periods are unfortunately often used.
Note that history often is the best analytic tool.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

8. Icelandic education – its development
A report on the next 25 years. Written by JTJ for the years
Turned out to be essentially accurate.
What should a book about the development of education say about changes?
Now, writing such book I would look at
Constancy and recurrence in the discourse,
continuity of development through identifiable phases,
regularity,
academic drift,
institutional drift
institutional conservatism
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

9. Constancy and recurrence in the discourse
The enrolment into vocational education and its status
The conservatism in the curriculum debate and the reluctance to change
The nature and importance of tests and measurement
How to lead schools ….
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

10. Continuity of development through identifiable phases
The most simple way to express this is to note that most institutional innovation has a precursor; something had be developing before often for a long time. Legal enactment often is just a confirmation of this development.
There are a multitude of examples:
The establishment of the University of Iceland in 1911
The establishment of most of the comprehensive schools
The development of the pre-schools
The national test entrance test to the gymnasia (1946) – which later became the national concluding at the end of compulsory education (1974)
…..
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

11. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Regularity
Number of compulsory years as defined by law
Gradual development of enrolment for different cohorts
Exponential growth of certain high status credentials
The development of gender difference (upper secondary and higher education )– growing steadily for a century - a global development
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

12. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
A crude demonstration of how compulsory education has expanded – the last point show the duty of the State rather than compulsion for students.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

13. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Enrolment at any level within the system of education for cohort ranges, expressed as a percentage of the cohort. Notice the smooth development, take the age range as an example. But this holds for all ranges shown.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

14. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
The growth of the UEE (university entrance examination is best described as an exponential growth of a credential. The exponents for males and females are different but very stable for a century. Same applies to all the Nordic countries.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

15. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
The number of Icelandic students enrolled at university Then we fit an exponential curve and extrapolate for the next 40 years!!
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

16. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
The number of Icelandic students enrolled at university We see that data from the first 2/3rds of the century predicted well the next 40 years.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

17. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Academic drift
Note that all developments mentioned here can only bee seen by watching developments over long periods of time and are not linear changes. Found everywhere.
Kindergarten curricula move towards school curricula
Vocations go to school
Vocational studies become more academic
Outdoor and ICT education serve academic subjects ….
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

18. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
One aspect of academic drift within upper secondary education.
Number of students graduating from two major sectors within upper secondary education. Notice a) the parallel development from 1870s until 1970 and b) that this graph does not show the age of the students graduating. Some students graduate from both tracks.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

19. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Institutional drift
The development of the compulsory system as a combination of primary schools and lower secondary schools (which were a continuation of a hybrid “realschulen” in Iceland. This had reached a fairly final stage with the law in Similarly the development of the upper secondary.
The development of the upper secondary system into a “unified system” perhaps from , but it started earlier and is still going on.
The moving of day care and kindergarten and play schools into the current formal pre-school system where it is now apart of the formal school system, with teachers and curricula.
…..
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

20. Issues in Icelandic education
Testing (national exams at the end of 4th, 7th and 10th grade) Inclusion, The educational progress of immigrants, Evaluation mechanisms, National curriculum (general part the same for pre-primary, compulsory and upper secondary) – a 21st century skills emphasis Marking systems in compulsory education Directorate of Education (From October 1st 2015) Pay- agreements and who controls the working time of teachers Government White paper with emphasis on Literacy, vocational education and prevention of dropout
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

21. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Teacher education
The form – the system
Characteristics of development
Issues being discussed
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

22. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Some landmarks
Teacher education currently at three universities: UI, UnAk, IAA (arts college)
Teacher education gained university status in 1971.
Pre-school teacher education gains clear university status 1996 at the University of Akureyri and in 1998 at the Iceland University of Education.
In 2008 the education for teachers was formally extended from three (bachelor) to five (+master) years for both primary and pre-primary school teachers (already for upper secondary teachers).
In 2008 the Iceland University of Education was merged with the UI with express purpose of interweaving subject education and the subjects.
There is a law and a regulation ( on the ingredients of TE. None other of the well established professions has such a detailed framework.
A council for professional development for teachers (x 4 stakeholders)
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

23. A simplified picture of the main routes.
A developing alternative for compulsory education, perhaps mainly for lower secondary, but in principle for all levels.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

24. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Number of graduated students in B.Ed. in compulsory school teacher education, 2005–2015 with a B.Ed. degree and 2014–2015 with a M.Ed. Degree. Borrowed from Draft: Challenges, contradictions and continuity in creating a five-year teacher education programme after the merger of two universities. Sigurðardóttir, Jóhannesson, Óskarsdóttir.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

25. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Overview of the Compulsory School Teacher Education, 1998–1999, 2012–2013 and 2015–2016. Percentage of ECTS for each category and ECTS. Borrowed from Draft: Challenges, contradictions and continuity in creating a five-year teacher education programme after the merger of two universities. Sigurðardóttir, Jóhannesson, Óskarsdóttir
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

26. Issues for discussion related to TE – seven issues
The forces, outside the purview or control of teacher professionalism that impinge on education
The changing definition of teacher education
The gradual drift of initial teacher education upwards (and outwards?) within the hierarchy of Higher Education
The career development of teachers and lifelong professional learning
The spectrum of teacher educators and their professional background. Are there common – or distinct identity elements?
Modern developments and education. The place and role of teacher educators in those processes.
To whom should we listen -- and what should we do, what role should we play?
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

27. Grand challenges in education
Mapping the future onto education
Futures, aims of education, inertia among actors and systems
Forging the research-praxis nexus within the system of education
The importance of research and data
The limits to relating research and the practice of education
Education: ensuring democracy and equity
Moving LLL to the centre of the educational system
General system problems. The frozen idea of ITE. What it means for teacher education to institutionalize
The teacher as the initiator of change dilemma
Why the teacher must be better trusted for conducting education and why she cannot be made responsible for taking the initiative. The institutions within the educational edifice. The institutionalization of mistrust.
The professional education of teachers – the fragmentation problem, the institutional question.
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016

28. Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016
Thank you
Jón Torfi Jónasson NAFOL Reykjavík August 2016