In December 2020 there were 1,628 licenced pre-primary school teachers in pre-primary schools in Iceland, or 25.7% of staff working in education and childcare and 43 more than in the previous year. There were 1,227 staff members in education and childcare with other pedagogical education, e.g. compulsory school teachers, social pedagogues, staff with a diploma in pre-primary education and assistant pre-school teachers, and their numbers have increased in recent years. Of those, 114 had completed teachers’ education to teach at other levels of education. Unskilled staff was more than half (55%) of staff working in education and childcare in December 2020.
There were 6,777 staff members working in pre-primary schools in December 2020, 367 (5.7%) more than in the previous year, even though there were only 134 (0.7%) more children attending pre-primary schools than in the previous year. The number of full-time equivalent staff increased by 5.0% and was 5,898.
Staff turnover decreased
The turnover among personnel working in education and childcare between 2019 and 2020 was 20%, lower than ever since Statistics Iceland started publishing data on staff in pre-primary schools in 1999. Staff turnover compares staff working on 1 December 2019 who were still working on 1 December 2020. In recent years the turnover has been 23-27% between years.
More older pre-school teachers
Almost one in five pre-school teachers (18.5%) were 60 years or older, and the number of pre-school teachers in this age group has increased more than that of younger teachers. Almost one in five teachers was under the age of 40 (19.2%) but more than 62% of pre-school teachers are aged between 40 and 59 years.
When looking at all staff members, pre-school teachers are more than half of all staff 60 years and older, but they are less than one in five staff members aged 30-39 and an even lower share of younger staff.
More males working in pre-primary schools than before
There were 546 male staff members in pre-primary schools in December 2020, the highest number so far. Males were 8.1% of all staff, an increase of 18.2% from December 2019.
261 pre-primary schools
There were 261 pre-primary schools operating in Iceland in December 2020, three more than in the previous year. A total of 217 schools were operated by the municipalities while 44 schools were run by others.