Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools Country Background Report Iceland Ministry of Education, Science and Culture December 2014 The OECD and the European Commission (EC) have established a partnership for the Project, whereby participation costs of countries that are part of the European Union’s Erasmus+ program are partly covered. The participation of Iceland was organized with the support of the EC in the context of this partnership. Disclaimer: This report was prepared by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Iceland, as an input to the OECD Review of Policies to Improve the Effectiveness of Resource Use in Schools (School Resources Review). The document was prepared in response to guidelines the OECD provided to all countries. The opinions expressed are not those of the OECD or its Member countries. Further information about the OECD Review is available at www.oecd.org/edu/school/schoolresourcesreview.htm. Iceland Country Background Report 2 Table of contents List of tables and charts ...................................................................................................................... 4 List of abbreviations and glossary of terms ...................................................................................... 6 Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 8 Executive summary ............................................................................................................................. 9 Chapter 1. The national context ....................................................................................................... 13 1.1 The economic and social context ............................................................................................ 13 1.2 Demographic developments .................................................................................................... 14 1.3 Political context ........................................................................................................................ 17 1.4 Public sector management ...................................................................................................... 19 Chapter 2. The school system ........................................................................................................... 21 2.1 Organization of the school system ......................................................................................... 21 2.2 Education environment ........................................................................................................... 25 2.3 Objectives of the educational system and student learning objectives ............................... 28 2.4 Distribution of responsibilities within the school system ..................................................... 30 2.5 Market mechanisms in the school system ............................................................................. 33 2.6 Performance of the school system .......................................................................................... 34 2.7 Policy approaches to equity in education .............................................................................. 38 2.8 Main challenges ....................................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 3. Governance of resource use in schools ......................................................................... 44 3.1 Level of resources and policy concerns ................................................................................. 44 3.2 Sources of revenue ................................................................................................................... 46 3.3 Planning of resource use ......................................................................................................... 47 3.4 Implementation of policies to improve the effectiveness of resource use ........................... 50 3.5 Main challenges ....................................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 4. Resource distribution ..................................................................................................... 52 4.1 Distribution of resources between levels of the education administration ......................... 52 4.2 Distribution of financial resources across resource types ................................................... 54 4.3 Distribution of resources between levels and sectors of the school system ........................ 56 4.4. Distribution of resources across individual schools ............................................................ 56 4.5 Distribution of school facilities and materials ...................................................................... 59 4.6 Distribution of teacher resources ........................................................................................... 63 4.7 Distribution of school leadership resources .......................................................................... 68 4.8 Distribution across specific student groups .......................................................................... 70 4.9 Main challenges ....................................................................................................................... 72 Chapter 5. Resource utilisation ........................................................................................................ 75 5.1 Matching resources to individual student learning needs ................................................... 75 5.2 Organization of student learning time ................................................................................... 77 5.3 Allocation of teacher resources to students ........................................................................... 78 5.4 Organization of school leadership .......................................................................................... 88 5.5 Teaching and learning environment within schools ............................................................. 90 5.6 Use of school facilities and materials ..................................................................................... 93 5.7 Organization of education governance .................................................................................. 95 5.8 Main challenges ....................................................................................................................... 97 Iceland Country Background Report 3 Chapter 6. Resource management ................................................................................................... 99 6.1 Capacity building for resource management ........................................................................ 99 6.2 Monitoring of resource use ................................................................................................... 100 6.3 Transparency and reporting ................................................................................................ 101 6.4 Incentives for the effective use of resources ........................................................................ 102 6.5 Main challenges ..................................................................................................................... 103 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................... 104 Annex 1 Trends in the number of public and private schools, 1998 to 2012 ............................. 114 Annex 2 Comparison of teachers’ regular salaries to other occupations, 2013 ......................... 115 Annex 3 Comparison of teachers’ total salaries to other occupations with a graduate degree, 2013 ................................................................................................................................................... 116 Annex 4 Pre-primary school staff, other than teaching and management, 2004 to 2012 ......... 117 Annex 5 Compulsory school staff, other than teaching and management, 2004 to 2013 ......... 118 Annex 6 Upper secondary school staff, other than teaching and management, 2004 – 2012 ... 119 Iceland Country Background Report 4 List of tables and charts Table 1 The age distribution of the labour force, 2000 to 2014 – number of individuals by age groups 16-24, 25-54 and 55-75 ....................................................................................................................... 15 Table 2 The number of unemployed individuals and rate of unemployment, 2005 - 2014 ................ 16 Table 3 Proportion of the population aged 16-29 in upper secondary and tertiary education, 2004 to 2012 – by age ...................................................................................................................................... 16 Table 4 Proportion of foreign nationals in the local population, 2005 to 2013 .................................. 16 Table 5 The number of students in pre-primary, compulsory and upper secondary schools, 2012 .... 22 Table 6 The number of students at all education levels by gender, 2004 to 2012 .............................. 35 Table 7 The education level of the population aged 25-64, 2004 to 2012 - proportions and by gender ............................................................................................................................................................