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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This vignette from an academic <strong>in</strong> the university gives <strong>in</strong>sight <strong>in</strong>to the concerns from the<br />
suppliers of professional development:<br />
Vignette 3.9.1 We used to have a system for offer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>-service education<br />
We used to have a system for offer<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong>-service education. But now schools can choose for themselves. In 1996 the<br />
municipalities took over the responsibility of <strong>in</strong>-service education. I th<strong>in</strong>k s<strong>in</strong>ce then the offer<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> the arts have been<br />
gradually gett<strong>in</strong>g worse. There are very few opportunities <strong>in</strong> the arts <strong>and</strong> only a few teachers from a school can go. I<br />
th<strong>in</strong>k everyone is unhappy. I th<strong>in</strong>k sometimes even the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal chooses the courses. They have to f<strong>in</strong>d someth<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that is relevant. The offers have decreased drastically. We offer courses through the university but these now have to<br />
be fully economically costed <strong>and</strong> that makes them expensive. We have tried offer<strong>in</strong>g courses such as “Music <strong>and</strong><br />
movement for the whole school” but there was very little response. It ended up not runn<strong>in</strong>g because there were so<br />
few attendees. The unions <strong>and</strong> civil authorities also offer courses, but overall I th<strong>in</strong>k it is quite disjo<strong>in</strong>ted.<br />
I th<strong>in</strong>k we need to reth<strong>in</strong>k the whole approach to recurrent education for teachers. If we th<strong>in</strong>k about it another way, a<br />
pre-primary school asked for a course about visual arts <strong>and</strong> then too many people came. We offer teachers the<br />
opportunity to do a one year course, like a sabbatical year. But they have to come here to study. Each year about 20-<br />
30 teachers take up that offer. Teacher education needs to be planned as a lifelong project. There is <strong>in</strong>terest for<br />
courses related to the arts <strong>and</strong> technology, like how to use ‘Garage B<strong>and</strong>’. But these are ma<strong>in</strong>ly offered by the labour<br />
unions <strong>and</strong> I th<strong>in</strong>k that money becomes the motivation. We have had a 10% cut back <strong>in</strong> our funds so I guess mak<strong>in</strong>g<br />
money will be even more vital. We worry a lot as the university says courses with less than 15 people will be cut <strong>and</strong><br />
many of the arts courses have less than 10 people. Numbers generally <strong>in</strong> teacher education are decl<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g. It will be a<br />
difficult few years.<br />
The notion of practice-based degrees – <strong>and</strong> professional learn<strong>in</strong>g pathways – for people <strong>in</strong><br />
education, the arts or creative <strong>in</strong>dustries is only just emerg<strong>in</strong>g. Most postgraduate programmes<br />
are full-time, or are conducted dur<strong>in</strong>g school time <strong>and</strong> so therefore are not accessible for<br />
teachers who are teach<strong>in</strong>g full-time. It has also been considered that ‘distance learn<strong>in</strong>g’ does not<br />
provide an acceptable model for further education <strong>in</strong> the arts because of the <strong>in</strong>herently practical<br />
nature of arts education.<br />
While the vignette (3.9.1) was critical of the move to more local control of professional<br />
education, other respondents spoke highly of the quality of some of the offers made at the local<br />
level, as the follow<strong>in</strong>g example shows:<br />
A lady came <strong>in</strong> to give a course. The City Office organised the course. The City Office is very good. Each<br />
municipality provides offers. She came from the Centre for Research <strong>in</strong> Early Childhood. The courses offered by<br />
the City Office are free. She talked about the Penn green approach to early year’s education <strong>in</strong> Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> I feel<br />
<strong>in</strong> love with that approach. The course was a collaboration of 80 city schools. S<strong>in</strong>ce go<strong>in</strong>g to that course we have<br />
become fired up. The teachers learnt that they can do art from noth<strong>in</strong>g. Every day we are try<strong>in</strong>g to put more art<br />
<strong>in</strong>. Instead of the teachers mak<strong>in</strong>g th<strong>in</strong>gs, we learnt that children need to take ownership <strong>and</strong> do it themselves. It<br />
is a method that works <strong>and</strong> is for everyone. I have been a classroom teacher for 45 years, but you can still learn<br />
someth<strong>in</strong>g new. I learnt that you can hang everyth<strong>in</strong>g around a little seed of an idea. We made maps of high <strong>and</strong><br />
low places <strong>and</strong> that then lead to mak<strong>in</strong>g models. Everyth<strong>in</strong>g came from the children. Everyth<strong>in</strong>g we needed was<br />
at h<strong>and</strong>. Children learn th<strong>in</strong>gs by th<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g about it <strong>and</strong> by do<strong>in</strong>g it themselves. You need to share someth<strong>in</strong>g of<br />
yourself.<br />
With<strong>in</strong> the music schools, special provisions exist for cont<strong>in</strong>ued professional education. In<br />
2001 there was a wage agreement that <strong>in</strong>cluded a 0.5% addition to cover professional<br />
development of teachers <strong>in</strong> the music school. There is also music teacher association money that<br />
can be applied for, as the follow<strong>in</strong>g example shows: “We try as a whole staff group to go abroad<br />
every third year. For example we all went abroad to do a course on us<strong>in</strong>g Sibelius software. We<br />
have also been to concert series <strong>in</strong> Berl<strong>in</strong> <strong>and</strong> Italy. The next staff day we are do<strong>in</strong>g a topic on<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g with music <strong>and</strong> people with disabilities. The local authorities really only offer general<br />
courses like health <strong>and</strong> safety <strong>and</strong> these are less relevant so it is really on us to be proactive <strong>and</strong><br />
build someth<strong>in</strong>g relevant.” The Association of Music School Teachers has a fund that offers each<br />
teacher support for professional development cost of up to 200.000 ISK every three years. In<br />
addition, the support for a group educational trip is 60.000 ISK per teacher every 3rd year.<br />
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