Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

Going to local schools… well we talk about it, but none of us do that. Newer schools have a music department.
We only do 2 lessons per week in a local school. I’m not fond of doing it . If you work with
children in schools you can only teach them the basics. In some ways it would be easier for all if the children
could come to music lessons during school time. The child would not be so tired. It would be more convenient for
the parents and the child. It would be convenient for the teacher and they would finish earlier. It might be
convenient but it is definitely NOT professional. Pre-primary school classes can ‘buy in’ time.
As can be seen in Figure 1.12.8, the majority of music schools still operate outside the
compulsory school, with only 3% working inside the compulsory school.
Figure 1.12.8 Facilities in which the school operates music school
One advantage of closer link between the music school and the compulsory school could be
improvements in the compulsory basic curriculum in music. For this broader music education,
the situation in compulsory school is not as good although it can vary from school to school.
There is a perception that the strength of the music schools has meant that there has been a
‘talent drain’ (especially of teachers) away from music education in the compulsory school, as
this comment suggests, “Music is like that. It is an emotional thing. There is always therefore a
difficulty in discipline [in compulsory school]. Teachers are doing other things and do not see it
as a priority. Visual Arts is a very solid subject in the public schools, music generally though is in
bad shape [in compulsory school]."
While the salaries of the Music School teachers is paid by local government, parents still
have to make a considerable contribution to the cost of music school. This cost varies from
centre to centre, but the sampling suggests an indicative total would be about 57,000 ISK for the
school year. There do not appear to be any special provisions for poorer families, though
individual centres do make specific arrangements on a one off basis for families that may not be
able to afford lessons. It was suggested that many families would be reluctant to ‘admit’ to
needing support to pay music fees. Following the recent financial down turn, concern has been
expressed over the ongoing capacity of parents to pay music fees. At this point, schools have not
seen any overall reduction in families attended, though there is concern that this might change
in the future. This does appear to be the case as music schools reported more people moving to
‘half time’ offers (i.e. one lesson per week instead of two). Other directors of music schools
noted an increase in parents being late with payments or using credit cards to make music
school payments. This situation will need to be monitored over the coming months and it may
be necessary to provide some form of scholarship or endowment for children of low income to
be able to pay for music lessons.
The teachers in music schools are very international. In fact it would appear from the visits
that the majority of teachers in music schools do not come from Iceland. It is argued though that
these international teachers bring high standards and international experience and ‘richness’ to
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