Uppeldi og menntun - 01.07.2015, Page 123

UPPELDI OG MENNTUN/ICELANDIC JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 24(2) 2015 123
INGÓLFUR ÁSGEIR JÓHANNESSON
Educational sciences – 40 years in the University of
Iceland: An introduction to Perspectives articles
ABSTRACT
This section of Perspectives articles outlines the history of educational sciences
(I. uppeldis- og menntunarfræði) as an academic field in the University of Iceland.
Educational sciences were first taught as a subject to a BA-degree in the Faculty of
Social Sciences at the University of Iceland in the autumn of 1975. After the University
of Iceland merged with the Iceland University of Education, educational sciences
became part of the Faculty of Education Studies within the just founded School of
Education. While the universities merged on July 1st, 2008, the educational sciences
program was transferred to the School of Education one year later.
The editors of the Icelandic Journal of Education and the dean and the board of the
Faculty of Education Studies decided to publish this section of Perspectives articles.
Two among the first professors of educational sciences along with the current dean of
the Faculty of Education Studies contribute to the section.
First, Guðný S. Guðbjörnsdóttir, one of the first two faculty members of educational
sciences at the Faculty of Social Sciences, discusses the development of the BA-studies
from their initiation in 1975, as well as portraying the development of faculty mem-
bership from 1975–2009. She explains some of the stepping stones from the initiation
of the BA program and how the course offerings changed. The first five graduates
completed their studies in 1980. Altogether 259 students graduated with a BA-degree
in educational sciences until 2009: 224 women and 35 men. From 2009, 127 have gradu-
ated: 122 women and five men.
Second, Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir writes about the graduate studies program in edu-
cational sciences, which was launched in 1993. In addition to her tenure as a professor
in the program, she is also one of the first graduates with a BA degree in educational
sciences (1983). This article traces the different study lines within the master’s degree
program, out of which independent disciplines developed in career counseling and
guidance, as well as in disability studies. The first student to graduate with an MA-
degree completed her studies in 1996 and after that 86 had graduated until 2009. In
addition, 13 were graduated in teacher studies and six in disability studies. A doctoral
program also began and, before the merger of the universities, three students had grad-
uated with a Ph.D.-degree and eight students, who were enrolled in the Ph.D.-program
in educational studies before the merger have graduated since the merger.
Third, Ólafur Páll Jónsson, current dean of Faculty of Education Studies, writes
about the status of the discipline since the merger of the University of Iceland and
Iceland University of Education, especially after educational sciences joined the School
of Education in 2009. With the merger, the School of Education was created with three
faculties: Education Studies; Sports, Leisure Studies, and Social Education; and Teach-
er Education. Most of the study lines belonging to the program of education sciences
at the University of Iceland were placed in the first mentioned faculty, together with