Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

‣ Funding should encourage risk taking and experimental approaches
Flexible, research-orientated approaches, combined with project-based methods, encourage
an educational climate where the teachers, artists and pupils engage in learning conversations
and test their ideas. Inquiry-based approaches enable spontaneous situations to be incorporated
to create interesting and meaningful art-based learning opportunities.
It appears that as a general principle, Icelandic education supports research and inquiry into
education and culture. Pupils are encouraged from an early age to be responsible and
independent. The strong inclusion of environmental learning, especially in the pre-primary
school and compulsory school years means that Icelandic children are confident and mature. In
secondary education pupils are actively encouraged and rewarded for taking initiative and pupilgenerated
activities in the arts are common place.
Young pupils are encouraged to work with ‘real’ tools and learning experiences. Pre-primary
school education in Iceland is particularly strong in encouraging problem-based approaches and
in linking learning to the environment and the community.
In the areas of wood and textile crafts, considerable use is made of projects. In good practice
examples, these projects are supported by building within the pupils a depth of awareness of
design processes, prototyping and risk taking. In other less high quality instances, the projects
are overly teacher-directed and tend to emphasise skills development without adequately
challenging the pupils to engage in higher order thinking and to strive for originality. Due to the
shortage of qualified teachers in these areas of the curriculum, industry experienced
practitioners may teach these subjects. In some instances this has led to highly innovative and
advanced practices of direct relevance to the field. Professional and educational links are to be
encouraged as a way to embed more creative based projects in the classroom.
Generally, throughout the country, the wood and textiles studios are very well equipped and
could be opened up to provide workspaces to professionals. This in turn could expand the
repertoire of projects available within the school, especially in smaller rural and regional schools.
While the technical and skills-based training within further and higher education (college
level and above) within Iceland is on a very high standard, this is not matched by a higher level
research culture in the arts. Many of the tertiary level institutions visited bemoaned the lack of
resources to support research and the lack of individuals to lead the development of a practiceled
research and inquiry culture in Iceland.
The importance of research was evidenced by the unanimous support given to this study
and the researchers involved. This research was not only appreciated for the knowledge it might
bring to the field of arts education, but moreover was appreciated for the opportunity provided
by this research to share some of the issues surrounding arts education and to be more closely
connected with international research dialogues around art and culture. Staff at all the tertiary
institutions visited bemoaned the lack of research and praised the ways this research was
allowing the on the ground voice to be amplified. They expressed concern that a lack of time and
expertise prevented them from having more opportunity to get into the field, though there was
widespread acknowledgement that there are lots of good interventions at the local level.
Despite a central commitment to research and inquiry based practices, many organisations
do not have any funding to complete even the smallest reflective inquiry. To do research is not
easy. Many organisations are modest, not-for-profit organisations. They do all the coordination
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