In the autumn of 2014 there were 108 female headmasters in compulsory schools in Iceland, up from 68 in the autumn of 1998. A the same time the number of males among headmasters declined by 62, resulting in 63 male headmasters in compulsory schools in the autumn of 2014.
In the autumn of 2014 there were 901 male teachers in compulsory schools, 18.7% of teaching staff. The number of male teachers has been declining slowly since 1998, when 26.0% of teaches were men. At the same time the number of female teachers has increased to 3,911 in 2014.
The average age of teaching personnel continues to increase
The average age of teaching personnel has been increasing since the year 2000. In the autumn of 2000 the average age of teaching personnel was 42.2 years, rising to 46.4 years in the autumn of 2014. During these years the average age of female teachers increased more rapidly, from 41.8 years in 2000 to 46.5 years in 2014. The average age of male teachers increased from 43.6 years to 46.0 years during the same period. The average age of teachers without a teaching licence has been lower than the age of licenced teachers during this period. In the autumn of 2014 the average age of licenced teachers was 46.7 while the average age of teachers without a teaching licence was 39.1 years.
The number of pupils in compulsory schools increases for the second consecutive year
In autumn 2014 there were 43,136 pupils in compulsory education in Iceland. The number of pupils increased by 402 (0.9%) from the previous school year for the second consecutive year, after a continuous decline since 2003, when there were 44,809 pupils in compulsory education. In addition there were 114 pupils attending the 5 year old grade in compulsory schools.
The number of pupils with a foreign mother tongue continues to increase
The number of pupils with a foreign mother tongue has increased year by year since Statistics Iceland started collecting these data. In the autumn of 2014, 3,275 pupils in Icelandic compulsory schools had a foreign mother tongue, or 7.6%, an increase by 1.1 percentage points from the previous year. The most numerous were Polish speaking pupils (1,114), pupils speaking Philippine languages (306) and English (229). In recent years over 60% of pupils with a foreign mother tongue were living in the capital area, while almost 40% were living in other parts of Iceland.
The number of pupils in private schools increases
There were 167 compulsory schools operating in Iceland in the autumn of 2014, two less than in the previous year. The schools at Hallormsstaður, Borðeyri and in Svalbarðshreppur have been closed, while one new school opened in the autumn of 2014, the Reykjavík International School. The number of schools has decreased as schools have merged; there were 29 fewer schools in operation in 2014 than in 1998.
During the school year 2014-2015 there were 11 private schools operating with 1,134 pupils (5 year old grade excluded). The number of pupils in private compulsory schools has never been greater since the start of the data collection by Statistics Iceland. There were 3 special education schools operating in Iceland with 155 pupils in attendance.
The largest compulsory schools were located in municipalities next to Reykjavík: Hraunvallaskóli (826 pupils), Varmárskóli (733) and Lágafellskóli (706). The smallest school was Grunnskólinn í Hofgarði with 5 pupils.