Uppeldi og menntun - 01.01.2009, Side 77

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 18(1)/2009 77
hafdís gUðJónsdóttir, Jóhanna karlsdóttir
“lEt a thousand flowErs bloom”
Policy of inclusiVE Education
abstract
The goal of this article is to throw a light on school policy and declaration from school
authorities on inclusive education based on international conventions, Icelandic acts
on education, Icelandic national curriculum and present the situation in our country.
The purpose of the research was to analyze the situation in the light of recent research
and to view the interplay with international policy and current trend to consolidate
the discussion and decision-making in this matter. Data was gathered by analyzing
written material and homepages of 68 schools in the four biggest communities. The
main findings are that only one fourth of the schools display inclusive policy, but more
than half introduce their policy on special education, special classes, and different
learning centers.
about thE authors
Hafdís Guðjónsdóttir (hafdgud@hi.is) is an Associate Professor at the University of Ice-
land, School of Education. She graduated from the Iceland Teacher College in 1973.
She completed a B.A. degree in Special Education from the Iceland University of
Education in 1990, a M.A. degree in Special Education from the University of Oregon,
Eugene in 1993 and a Ph.D. degree in Special Education from the same school in 2000.
Her main research interests are inclusive education, pedagogy, teacher development
and professionalism, teacher research, and self study of teaching and teacher educa-
tion practices.
Jóhanna Karlsdóttir (johannak@hi.is) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ice-
land, School of Education. She graduated from the Iceland Teacher College in 1972,
completed graduate studies in elementary teaching and art and craft from the Dan-
ish School of Education in 1989 and completed a M.Ed. degree in Education from the
Iceland University of Education in 2001. Her main research interests are in the areas of
pedagogy, assessment, students´ homework and inclusive education.