The Covid-19 pandemic greatly influenced the operation of schools in Iceland from the spring of 2020 and the following two school years but did not have any effect on school days in the 2022-2023 school year.
The effects of the pandemic on school days in compulsory schools were greatest in the first school year. On average, schools were closed due to Covid-19 for 2.6 days in the spring of 2020, there were 13.9 days with reduced attendance and 5.5 distance-learning days. The effects were smaller during the 2020-2021 school year and even smaller in 2021-2022.
The pandemic affected pupils differently and the average number of school days only tells a part of the story. Almost one-third (32.2%) of pupils in compulsory schools in Iceland in 2019-2020 did not miss any school days due to the pandemic, and over 22,700 pupils (49.1%) missed one or two days due to school closures. On the other hand, more than 250 pupils missed more than 20 school days in 2019-2020 due to the pandemic, the maximum being 26 days.
When looking over the whole Covid-19 period, the number of reduced attendance days due to the pandemic were from none in some schools up to 43 days in 2019-2020. The number of reduced attendance days was greatest in one school during the 2020-2021 school year when they were 74, and in 2021-2022 the largest number of reduced attendance days was 32.
Schools open more often for younger pupils
Statistics Iceland’s data show that there were fewer school closures among the youngest pupils, while distance learning was used more frequently in the oldest grades. When looking at the sum of reduced attendance days, distance learning days and days when schools were closed (here referred to as changed school days), the greatest difference between age groups was found in the 2020-2021 school year. During that year there were just under six changed school days for children in grades 1-4 but over 16 days in grades 8-10.
Schools were closed for almost 130 thousand pupils’ days in the spring of 2020
When adding up the number of days when schools were closed due to Covid-19, and multiplying with the number of pupils who should have been in school during those days (here referred to as pupils’ days), the results show that there was no teaching for almost 130 thousand pupils’ days during the 2019-2020 school year, all in the spring of 2020. During the 2020-2021 school year these pupils’ days were over 100 thousand and over 25 thousand in the 2021-2022 school year.
About the data
The results come from Statistics Iceland’s annual data collection from compulsory schools, but questions were added concerning the effect of Covid-19 on the teaching arrangement in the schools starting in the spring of 2020. The schools were asked for information about the number of days when the school was closed, days with reduced attendance and days with distance learning by grade. The data on students above are based on the assumption that all students in a grade were present when teaching was offered in the school. Therefore, these numbers do not show pupils who studied at home when lessons were offered in the school.