Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford
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The economic situation has not yet affected the number of students com<strong>in</strong>g to the school. Tuition will not<br />
be <strong>in</strong>creased next year. In addition to a voucher, issued to all children, less-well-of parents can apply for a<br />
support regard<strong>in</strong>g school fees for their children.<br />
I don’t agree that now is a bad time. Previously <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong> we were loos<strong>in</strong>g our identity, we were of track.<br />
Now is a major time for arts <strong>and</strong> craft, now is the time to break boundaries. The Reykjavík Committee for<br />
Sport <strong>and</strong> Leisure should be work<strong>in</strong>g with the education office. The art are fight<strong>in</strong>g for the same money, the<br />
children should be at the centre, work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> teams work on projects us<strong>in</strong>g all subjects. Interdiscipl<strong>in</strong>ary is the<br />
th<strong>in</strong>g, to much compartmentalization...<br />
Up until now money has not been a problem. The school pr<strong>in</strong>cipal prepares the budget <strong>and</strong> a committee of<br />
parents looks at the budget. The community really supports the school so they never say no.<br />
I don’t th<strong>in</strong>k it is a question of money but of th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g. Art is a tool that helps you learn <strong>and</strong> underst<strong>and</strong> life.<br />
Every child needs to know the basics.<br />
Local government provides considerable support for community <strong>and</strong> amateur arts. While<br />
some criticisms are made, the overall view is that the <strong>Cultural</strong> Agreement with the government<br />
is a great help. Additionally, the strong sense of community means that local companies are also<br />
helpful with donations <strong>and</strong> resources. Figure 1.6.1 shows that for the music schools (most<br />
directly impacted by local fund<strong>in</strong>g) there is a high level of satisfaction with fund<strong>in</strong>g, with 90% of<br />
respondents be<strong>in</strong>g very pleased or rather pleased with the cooperation with the local<br />
municipality.<br />
Figure 1.6.1: Satisfaction with the cooperation of the school <strong>and</strong> the local municipality<br />
The cost to the parents of a child attend<strong>in</strong>g music school can vary considerably. A typical<br />
cost is <strong>in</strong> the order of 61,500 ISK per year for 2x30m<strong>in</strong> lessons a week dur<strong>in</strong>g school terms. Most<br />
schools offer some form of family or sibl<strong>in</strong>g discount. This ranges between a 10-50% discount –<br />
largely dependent on the number of children (e.g. 10% for the second child up to 50% for 4 th or<br />
more children). Dur<strong>in</strong>g the parents’ focus group all the parents were concerned about the<br />
affordability of arts education. It appears that costs have risen <strong>and</strong> disposable <strong>in</strong>come fallen, as<br />
this comment underl<strong>in</strong>es, “The music school has become twice as expensive as it was <strong>in</strong> 2001.”<br />
In October 2005 11 an article was published on the future of art education at upper secondary<br />
level <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong>. The article po<strong>in</strong>ted to two major issues related to recent shifts <strong>in</strong> fund<strong>in</strong>g:<br />
By the transfer of responsibility for primary education from the state to city councils, <strong>and</strong> the result<strong>in</strong>g<br />
changes of state support for music schools, the most basic pr<strong>in</strong>ciples for provid<strong>in</strong>g art education have<br />
dramatically shifted – <strong>and</strong> we have yet to adapt. In that respect there are two crucial issues. The first be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
the fund<strong>in</strong>g of secondary art education that the councils previously provided, <strong>and</strong> secondly the education of<br />
exceptionally gifted students needs supplemental support. At the upper secondary level privately run art<br />
schools have very weak fund<strong>in</strong>g, <strong>and</strong> their position with<strong>in</strong> the education system is unclear, <strong>and</strong> on the<br />
11 Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson: Menntaskóli listanna (‘College of the <strong>Arts</strong>’) the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal director of the Icel<strong>and</strong>ic<br />
Academy of the <strong>Arts</strong>. Published <strong>in</strong> Morgunbladid newspaper October 2005<br />
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