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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We try to do professional development. The municipality pays the salary of the teacher but not the fee for the<br />
course. 75% of our teachers are qualified. Only half of the music teachers are qualified. It is a problem for us as<br />
we are quite isolated <strong>and</strong> the university does not provide arts education onl<strong>in</strong>e. In 1992 I did my tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g onl<strong>in</strong>e.<br />
There were 100 teach<strong>in</strong>g students all study<strong>in</strong>g onl<strong>in</strong>e that year. I don’t th<strong>in</strong>k you can do your tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g onl<strong>in</strong>e any<br />
more. You have to actually go, <strong>and</strong> that is really hard from here.<br />
There is great strength generally <strong>in</strong> offer<strong>in</strong>g distance education, but it doesn’t work well for the arts. We need<br />
blocks of practical time. <br />
Widely reported was the lack of the teacher’s (or tra<strong>in</strong>ee teachers) own artistic <strong>and</strong><br />
communication skills. Furthermore, it was argued that students leav<strong>in</strong>g teacher education<br />
possess a lack of underst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g of the creative or artistic process <strong>and</strong> an absence of awareness<br />
to the aims or benefits of artistic <strong>and</strong> creative education. There is also an absence of any notion<br />
of a theoretical underp<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g or philosophical positions on the arts learn<strong>in</strong>g. While these<br />
perceptions are not always correct, there is a perceived need for more tra<strong>in</strong>ed arts educators <strong>in</strong><br />
the school system – “The need for professional education is very press<strong>in</strong>g. We dream that we<br />
might be able to prepare creative teachers. We need a sort of “open university” for the arts.”<br />
List<strong>in</strong>gs of courses for the 2008-2009 school year (August - May/June) for pre-school<br />
teachers <strong>in</strong> the Hafnarfjörður municipality showed a total of 122 offers, of which only two had<br />
anyth<strong>in</strong>g to do with the arts – a two hour lecture/discussion on music <strong>in</strong> pre-primary schools<br />
accord<strong>in</strong>g to the official curricula, <strong>and</strong> an <strong>in</strong>troduction <strong>and</strong> discussion on the teach<strong>in</strong>g of the arts<br />
<strong>in</strong> pre-primary schools. Another po<strong>in</strong>t of <strong>in</strong>terest is the number of courses (about 30) directed at<br />
pre-primary school staff that do not speak Icel<strong>and</strong>ic – <strong>in</strong>dicates high number of immigrants<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> pre-primary schools. In the <strong>in</strong>troduction, the booklet of offers po<strong>in</strong>ts to other sources<br />
of professional development for teachers. It also mentions that teachers <strong>and</strong> staff can apply for<br />
f<strong>in</strong>ancial support regard<strong>in</strong>g professional development to their labour union.<br />
Although somewhat limited, professional development programmes do exist <strong>in</strong> the arts <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> a general sense, the professional development of teachers is well supported <strong>in</strong> Icel<strong>and</strong>. Upper<br />
secondary school teachers should use 80 hours of the summer break towards professional<br />
development. There are several funds they can access <strong>and</strong> they can apply for grants. There is<br />
also a m<strong>in</strong>isterial fund that allows up to 30 teachers to have a one year sabbatical to undertake<br />
further study. In compulsory school, municipalities pay 1.72% of monthly salaries to a fund that<br />
<strong>in</strong>dividual teachers can apply to for their professional development. Through this system, there<br />
are many funds available. The municipal agreement states that compulsory school teachers<br />
should do 150 hours of cont<strong>in</strong>uous education every two years.<br />
Early years’ teachers have far less time for cont<strong>in</strong>uous education but tend to take courses <strong>in</strong><br />
their own time. While <strong>in</strong> theory the options are available for teachers to decide, <strong>in</strong> many schools<br />
pr<strong>in</strong>cipals make the decision. The choice of courses is also dependent on what can be offered.<br />
Some schools subsidise the time for teachers to attend professional development while the<br />
general pattern is that the school pays for the subscription to the professional development but<br />
the <strong>in</strong>dividual teacher goes <strong>in</strong> ‘their own time’, either over the summer or Saturdays. It was also<br />
the general pattern that travel to professional development course was refunded by the school.<br />
Teachers were generally quite critical of the st<strong>and</strong>ard of professional development.<br />
Professional development courses are isolated ½ or 1 day events <strong>and</strong> generally do not articulate<br />
<strong>in</strong>to further learn<strong>in</strong>g pathways. Teachers compla<strong>in</strong>ed that they were not always given the choice<br />
of courses to attend <strong>and</strong> that where a choice was given, there were very few options <strong>in</strong> the arts.<br />
Other criticisms <strong>in</strong>cluded that the courses did not have a practical application or that the<br />
presenters were out of touch with the reality of the classroom situations. The courses also<br />
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