Women outnumber men among teachers
There were 2,494 staff members in upper secondary schools in Iceland in November 2006 holding 2,491 full-time equivalent jobs. Thereof teachers were 1,869 holding 1,944 full-time equivalent jobs. The number of staff members and the number of teachers has been increasing steadily for some years, corresponding with a similar increase in the number of students. For comparison, there were 1,534 teachers holding 1,608 full-time equivalent jobs during the academic year 2000-2001. The number of teachers has increased by 335 during this period from 2000-2001 which is an increase of 21.8%. During the same period the number of full-time equivalent teachers has increased by 336, or by 20.9%. The number of students at the upper secondary level has increased by 20.3% during the same period.

It is noticeable how the proportion of women among teaching personnel in upper secondary schools has increased during this period. There were 702 female teachers in 2000-2001, or 45.8% of all teaching staff. In 2006-2007 women were more than one-half of all teachers at the upper secondary level, or 52.4%. During this time the number of female teachers has increased by almost 40% while the number of male teachers has increased by almost 7%.

More licensed teachers outside the capital region
More licensed teachers have usually been found in upper secondary schools in the capital region, than in other parts of Iceland. In November 2006 the proportion of teaching staff holding a teaching licence was higher outside the capital region. Those teachers are considered to be licensed who have permission from the Ministry of Education to call themselves teachers at the upper secondary level. A total of 76.1% of teaching personnel in November 2006 were licensed teachers. The proportion of licensed teachers in November 2005 was 78.7% and has therefore gone down by 2.6 percentage points between the two years.

In 2000-2001 there were 977 licensed teachers in schools in the capital region and 588 in schools in other parts of Iceland. Information was available on the qualification status of 1,565 teaching staff members. The proportion of licensed teachers in schools in the capital region was 77.4% and 62.6% in schools in other regions. In 2006-2007 the proportion of licensed teachers outside the capital region had increased to 78.3% of teaching personnel; an increase of almost 16 percentage points from 2000-2001. In 2006-2007 the proportion of licensed teachers in the capital region was 75.2% and has decreased by more than 2 percentage points during the same period. It should be noted that these figures are based on head counts. When full-time equivalent teachers are considered, the picture is more favourable for the capital region. The proportion of licensed full-time equivalent teachers in the capital region in 2006-2007 was 85.2% but 84.9% in other regions in Iceland. Either way, it is clear that considerable changes have taken place in the proportion of licensed teachers outside the capital region in Iceland.

Data collected by Statistics Iceland depict that in recent years the number of staff members working part-time has increased more than the number of full-time staff. The number of teaching staff members working less than one-half of a full-time job has increased by 30.3% in the last two years while at the same time the number working 1.0-1.5 full-time equivalent jobs has only increased by 7.9%. This fact partly explains why the proportion of licensed teachers has decreased, since a larger proportion of part-time workers are unlicensed, compared with teachers working full-time.

About the data
Data on personnel in schools at the upper secondary level come from the schools and the State Accounting Office. The reference month is November for the last three school years. In 2001-2004 the information was collected with March as a reference month and in 2000 February was the reference month. The data include all personnel who were employed by schools at the upper secondary level in November 2006. Teaching staff includes everyone who undertook any teaching activities during the reference period. Teachers who did not teach during this period, e.g. were on leave, are not included in the data on teachers. However, they are counted among all staff members if they received salary during the reference period. Education refers to the highest level of education attained