Over 44,300 pupils study in compulsory education
In autumn 2005 there were 44,336 pupils in compulsory education in Iceland. The number of pupils has decreased by 175 since the previous school year. It is expected that the number of pupils in compulsory education will continue to decrease in the next couple of years, since the age groups who will be entering compulsory education are smaller than the age groups that will be completing compulsory education. The present 10th grade is the largest age cohort in compulsory education with 4,779 pupils while there are 4,123 pupils in the 1st grade. There were 4,841 teaching staff members in autumn 2005 and 10.2 pupils per full-time equivalent teacher. These figures are taken from the Statistics Iceland data collection from compulsory schools, which is undertaken in October every year.
In autumn 2005 there were 1,594 pupils in compulsory schools with another mother tongue than Icelandic, an increase of 225 children from the previous school year, or more than a 16% increase. Approximately 3.6% of all pupils have another mother tongue than Icelandic. There are 264 children whose mother tongue is Polish, 173 speak English, and 144 speak Philippine languages. Polish has been the most common foreign mother tongue in compulsory schools since autumn 2002. In the years before 2002 English was the most common foreign language spoken by pupils in compulsory education.
All compulsory schools now have a single shift system of teaching, i.e. all pupils now start school in the morning. In the Statistics Iceland data collection on compulsory schools in autumn 1998 42 schools did not have a single shift system.
During the school year 2005-2006 there are 177 compulsory schools operating in Iceland, a decrease by one school since the previous year. Since the previous school year 7 new schools have been founded while 8 schools have been shut down or united with other schools. In autumn 2005 there are 250 pupils per school on average. The largest compulsory schools are Árbæjarskóli in Reykjavík (799 pupils) and Vallaskóli in Selfoss (786 pupils). Six schools have more than 700 pupils. The school with the fewest pupils is Grunnskóli Mjóafjarðar with 3 pupils.
There are 7 private schools with 472 pupils attending, an increase of almost 10% since the previous school year. In addition there are 118 pupils attending the 5 year grade in private schools. In addition there is an Italian school operating at Kárahnjúkar with 9 pupils.
Statistics