Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

Even in music schools – where the offer is comparatively strong – there is a need for more
offers. As can be seen in Figure 3.9.2, nearly 75% of respondents felt there were inadequate
offers.
Figure 3.9.2 Availability of professional development (Music)
An arts college supplements the offers within Iceland by bringing in additional expertise;
“We seek a small grant each summer. We bring in a teacher from abroad (e.g. New York). They
can work in the textile museum. We ask them to give some lectures. We also try to attend the
Nordic conferences. We also do other general education courses about twice a year. For
example the last one was on using Photoshop.”
Professional associations play a valuable role in the educational life of Iceland and in the
care and development of teachers. The service provided by professional associations is vast and
the increasing numbers of members in these associations is testament to their value. They
provide everything from practical discipline support (such as professional development,
specialised staff, specialised resources) to more pastoral care of the teaching workforce (such as
summer houses, teacher networks).Some of the professional associations offer high quality
professional development courses around practitioner sharing with ‘guest’ speakers providing
valuable extra input. These were inexpensive and the associations tried to host the meetings in
the different municipalities to assist to get services to more outlying areas.
The age of members is young by international standards averaging only 45 years. Many
associations have more than 2000 members. Primarily the funds received through membership
subscriptions are ploughed back into making the professional robust and supporting individuals
and networks. In addition, the professional associations tend to have strong links with similar
associations within the Nordic countries and strong international links.
The connection between Icelandic institutions and professional associations with their
Nordic counterparts adds to the richness of offers available to teachers and artists. The Nordic
associations and broader international links provide access to high quality congresses, seminars
and workshops. Once again though, most of these are targeted at professional artists and are
less accessible to teachers. Many of the topics covered could be very applicable as part of a
structured professional development programmes. In particular, focus days on arts research,
performance and exhibition development, and skill enrichment.
Most trade unions offer their members a range of continuous and re-education
opportunities. There is a long tradition in Iceland for the involvement of employee organisations
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