The overall aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive picture of the marketization of early childhood education in Iceland. Our theoretical framework is based on Hursh’s (2007) analysis of how the governance of schools is reshaped to serve a neoliberal agenda with the help of internal and external privatization (Ball and Youdell, 2007). In this paper we explore charter schools in Iceland, categorizing them according to Fabricant and Fine (2012), and shed light on how the most dominant charter school chain in Iceland, Hjallastefnan (e.g. the Hjalla-policy), is leading the corporatisation of public education. Our main data sources are policy and media documents and data from Statistics Iceland. Content analysis is our method of inquiry. Our findings indicate that Iceland is on a similar route to other Nordic countries, where privatization has become an ‘inevitable’ part of the education system. Internal privatization is shaping the sector, based on technical methods of delivering predetermined outcomes. External privatization, in the form of educational programs, is growing along with charter schools.

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In mid-March 2020, leaders of Icelandic preschools faced a new reality: the task of leading and keeping their preschools open during the early stages of a pandemic. Suddenly, everything changed, and dystopia became the “new normal”. The proximal closeness between unrelated people was forbidden, and everyone was supposed to practice social distancing. This article discusses the attitudes of preschool staff towards their leaders (principals) during that time. How successfully did the leaders handle the first weeks of the pandemic? Data were drawn from an online survey conducted between 8 and 18 April 2020 during a time when feelings were running high. The results showed that staff felt that most of the leaders supported and did their best to take care of their staff members. Leaders established new ways to communicate and get information from both staff and parents. They showed assertiveness and used their former leadership training and skills. However, staff perceived leaders had problems setting boundaries, and their insecurity affected their leadership skills. The unique contribution of this study is that its data were collected during the early stages, which may be helpful for later stages or other crises affecting preschools in the future.

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Í þessari grein er fjallað um þekkingu, reynslu og viðhorf til sköpunarsmiðja (e. makerspaces) meðal kennara ungra barna (3-8 ára) í leik- og grunnskólum, fagfólks á söfnum og í sköpunarsmiðjum. Upplýsingum var safnað með rafrænni könnun í tengslum við Evrópuverkefnið MakEY (e. Makerspaces in the early years: Enhancing digital literacy and creativity)1 sem er samstarfsverkefni fjölmargra háskóla og stofnana innan Evrópu og utan. Nokkrar íslenskar stofnanir tóku þátt í verkefninu.2 Gögnum var safnað meðal áðurnefndra hópa sumarið 2017 (n=254).3 Í ljós kom að minnihluti kennara (17%) en meirihluti safnafólks (72%) hafði áður heyrt um hugtakið. Um 28% safnafólks hafði reynslu af að nota slík rými og 13% höfðu skipulagt sköpunarsmiðjur en sambærilegar tölur hjá kennurum voru eingöngu 15 og 7%. Um helmingur kennara og safnafólks taldi gott aðgengi á sínum vinnustöðum varðandi vélbúnað til að búa til stafrænar afurðir. Álíka algengt var að hentug rými væru til staðar hjá kennurum og rúmur þriðjungur safnafólks sagði gott aðgengi að forritunarbúnaði. Aðgangur að verkfærasettum sem hentuðu í samþættum verkefnum var til staðar hjá mun færri og aðgangur að þrívíddarprenturum eða geislaskerum var fátíður. Áhugi var hjá stórum hluta safnafólks og kennara á þjálfun eða námskeiðum í tengslum við sköpunarsmiðjur og meirihluti svarenda (73% kennara og 60% safnafólks) taldi sköpunarsmiðjur samrýmast vel sýn sinni á nám og kennslu. Sköpunarsmiðjur geta gegnt lykilhlutverki í mótun menntunar á Íslandi í því tæknilega landslagi sem er í stöðugri þróun, þar sem stafrænt læsi, „germenning“ (e. makerculture) og forritunarhæfni leika aðalhlutverk ásamt faglegri starfsþróun þeirra sem mennta börn og styðja við nám þeirra og þroska. MakEY verkefnið og fræðilegt framlag þess er mikilvægt innlegg þar sem leitast er við að skoða stöðuna á byrjunarreit.

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