Five-Year Teacher Education for Compulsory School in Iceland : Retreat from Research-Based to Practice-Oriented Teacher Education?

Abstract

In 2008 the teacher education in Iceland was extended from a three-year bachelor program to a five-year program, ending with a master’s degree. The intention was to give teacher education more solid research base, manifested in a 30 ECTS master’s thesis while simultaneously strengthening the link between theory, research, and practice.

In 2008 the teacher education in Iceland was extended from a three-year bachelor program to a five-year program, ending with a master’s degree. The intention was to give teacher education more solid research base, manifested in a 30 ECTS master’s thesis while simultaneously strengthening the link between theory, research, and practice. Pursuant to the extension, enrolment in teacher education dropped, students’ progress was slow, and the dropout rate rose. At the same time large cohorts of teachers retired and shortage of teachers became a problem which led schools to recruit student teachers before they had finished their degree. This situation led to even slower progress in student teachers’ studies and fewer new licenced teachers each year. To reverse this development, several measures were introduced in the years 2017–2019, involving teacher education institutions, municipalities, the teachers’ union, and the government. Among them was to make the master’s thesis optional and to offer student teachers paid internship during their final year. The measures have benefitted both the recruitment and study progress. Without the masters’ thesis, however, the balance between research and practice seems to have tilted in favour of practice, which raises questions about the quality and status of teacher education.