Iceland’s education system emerged as virtually the only government structure its people trusted after the financial crisis of 2008 triggered the collapse of all three of its major commercial banks. The crisis damaged Iceland’s international reputation with the country narrowly avoiding bankruptcy. Katrin Jakobsdottir, the Minister of Education, Science and Culture, believes it also exposed flaws in its civil society and sees education for democracy as a key ingredient in the country’s recovery.

As an EU accession country – with possible entry in the near future – education could play a major part in the northern Atlantic island’s move away from the brink.

Iceland’s education system – a compulsory primary system for 6-15 year old olds, followed by secondary school from 16-20 and university after that – is ripe for reform, the 35-year-old minister believes.

Spending – high by European standards at 8% of GDP – is concentrated on the primary sector partly because maintaining schools for a small but widely scattered population of just 311,000 people is an expensive business. With dropout rates of around one in three in secondary education and lower spending than the OECD average on universities, it is clear that change is needed.

“Although in recent years we have seen an increase in the numbers of young people going to university, we still have around one-third of the population leaving school after finishing primary education,” Ms Jakobsdottir says.

Due to the relative lack of short, flexible vocational courses and problems with work-based apprenticeships and training schemes, tackling the issue is a key priority.

Iceland has long had a strong vocational system and adult education was originally set up as a partnership between employers and the unions with the state coming in as a stakeholder only later. Industry and vocational schools work well together on devising curricula, but there are not enough enterprise-based practical training schemes where young people can complete a vocational education.

“We need more pluralism in the system; more choice after primary education for those who want to train for a vocation, particularly since the secondary education system is focused on preparing students for further academic study,” says the minister.

Education reforms introduced in 2008 allow for more flexible study programmes including the sort of short and intermediate courses that have been adopted across Europe for vocational studies, but the financial crisis – which forced budget cuts of up to 15% across the system – has frustrated implementation.

Read full article in ETF magazine Live&Learn

Photo © Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, Iceland