Page 15 - Educational-Iceland

In the former case, graduation is a pre-requisite of getting a job e.g. as a skilled l provide information and counselling on educational opportunities and career pathways;
journeyman. In the latter, anyone can take up the trade in question, although those who l participate in various activities in order to enhance pupils’ welfare and conditions;
graduate from these studies have priority over those who do not. In reality, it is rare for an l supervise the clients’ educational progress and suggest solutions when needed;
unqualified person to get such a job. In order to enter universities, vocational students l support teachers when dealing with school-related problems and advise them
must add on to their general education, e.g. languages and mathematics; in supervising classes;
l Agricultural schools. Agricultural school students graduate with valid working qualifications l contact parents and legal guardians of students under the age of 18 when needed;
and can continue studying at agricultural universities; l report every year on the activities undertaken.
l Art schools. Graduates get neither certain job rights nor the rights to further
studies in Iceland; Around 90% of all compulsory school graduates start upper secondary education but the
l Household schools. There are a few, small schools which offer training in various dropout rate is very high and Iceland has one of the highest percentage of early school
household related subjects, such as cooking, serving food, cleaning, needlework, sewing, leavers in Europe. Almost a third of all adults in the labour market had only compulsory
etc. They are boarding schools and traditionally all students have been female but in the education in 2015. This percentage has been falling slightly in recent years but it is still
latter years, males have also started studying there. Graduates get up to 30 credits that far too high, according to a White Paper on Improvements in Education, published by the
should help them get jobs in e.g. canteens. These credits do not give access to any further Ministry for Education, Science and Culture in 2014.
education and training;
l Special schools for certain professions, e.g. fire fighters, police officers and custom One of the main reasons for the high dropout rate seems to be that many students work
officers. The training in these school is job related and is a necessary pre-requisite for alongside their studies, which increases the likelihood of low success rates at the school,
getting the job in question. which again increase the likelihood of dropping out. In other words, most early school leavers
can be defined as either ‘positive leavers’ (leaving in order to take up a job) or ‘opportune
Some vocational schools offer specific bridging courses for those who want to enter leavers’ (have not decided on what they want but take an available job and may later return
universities but do not have a matriculation exam. to school).

In the Upper Secondary School Act it is stipulated that ‘Students have the right to educational The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture appointed a special task force early in
3
and vocational counselling carried out by specialists in the field ’. 2007 to put forth suggestions on how to decrease school dropout. The group’s main
recommendations were to increase educational and vocational counselling, both in
According to the Act, the main tasks of the guidance counsellors are to: compulsory and upper secondary schools, to ensure that all guidance counsellors have
l organise and implement career educational programmes; the relevant university education and to appoint a special project manager in the Ministry
of Education who would be in charge of implementing counselling policies. It is also
3 Here, it must be added that due to financial cuts in upper secondary schools following the economic crisis of 2008, guidance counsellors are most often recommended that a national forum on counselling be established.
the only support staff hired by them. Thus, there are usually no psychologists, social workers or support teachers on the payroll and therefore counsellors
often have to play all these roles.
14 15