Tímarit um menntarannsóknir - 01.01.2007, Page 78

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Tímarit um menntarannsóknir, 4. árgangur 2007
Abstract - Summary
Strengthening the "mainstay of schoolwork"
- Teacher Training in Iceland for One
Hundred Years.
The objective of this article is to trace the
development of education for teachers in
Iceland. Special attention is given to those
institutions that have been responsible for
educating primary school teachers. Although
theorists have explored public education in
Iceland, the history of teacher education is
still largely un documented, and there has
been a lack of concern about the issue. From
the outset of the twentieth century, politicians
have lacked understanding of the importance
of teaching as a profession, as well as of
the need to educate teachers. Conflicts have
occurred between government on one side
and education professionals on the other.
This article deals with these conflicts and the
historical development of teacher education
in Iceland. Among the issues discussed is the
battle for formal education of teachers, the
struggle for the transfer of teacher education
to university level, and the fight to lengthen the
duration of teacher education from three years
to four years. The article also takes issue with
the general evaluation of teacher education
programs, which took place in 1997–98 in
Iceland. The impact of the evaluation programs
and resulting recommendations are explored in
the light of educational research. Finally, the
article outlines a general picture of current
teacher education.
It is safe to assert that the education of
primary level teachers in Iceland has
undergone extensive changes during the last
century. A number of parliamentary bills on
the establishment of a teacher training college
were presented during the start of the last
century, but these were overturned one after the
other. A teacher training college was thought
too expensive for the national economy, but
the opinion was also aired that sufficiently
many were engaged in teaching children. The
government seems to have had little inkling
of how poor the facilities for teachers and
pupils were at this time in Iceland. The first
legislation passed on mandatory education for
children, dating from 1907, increased the need
for education specifically for teachers, and
the Icelandic Teachers Training College was
established in 1908.
During the middle of the last century, the
number of people with further education
increased in Iceland. The impact of this
development is marked in legislation on
teacher education which was passed by the
Icelandic parliament in 1947. This legislation
marked a turning point in legislation on teacher
education (Broddi Jóhannesson, 1983). There
seems however, to have been limited will
to implement the new approach entailed in
the new legislation, as the funding necessary
to realise the changes was not forthcoming.
Lack of funding was a continuing obstacle
to progress for the remainder of the century.
When the Icelandic College of Education
became the Iceland University of Education in
1971, the problems related to lack of funding,
were crystallised in the fact that the Icelandic
parliament, which itself introduced and ratified
the new legislation, did not seem to understand
the fundamental changes which were required
by this same legislation. The establishment of
the College was fraught with difficulties and
understanding of the need for education for
professional training for teachers continued to
be limited.
Attempts to develop education for
teachers during the last decades has been
characterised by conflict between government
and professionals, a conflict which has taken
various forms throughout the 20th Century.
The attitude of many political representatives
can be discerned from the discussions
following the outcome of the 1996 TIMSS
educational survey which showed poor results
for Icelandic primary level students in maths
and science. A common attitude expressed
by political representatives is that too much
emphasis was placed on pedagogy at the cost
of sciences, and that the legal certification of
Að styrkja haldreipi skólastarfsins