Many ways have been discussed for how to help Reykjavik’s elementary schools save money in the financial crisis. One idea that has been floated is the possibility of reducing the teaching time for school years 2-5 (ages 7-10) by five hours a week, or 40 minutes per day.
According to information from the Reykjavik city education department, no decision has yet been made on the cut to teaching time, mbl.is reports. A decision is expected before the city’s financial plan is presented on Tuesday.
The teaching time in question was added to the year 2-4 curriculum just a few years ago and was first intended as a time for doing and getting help with homework. The time has since been slowly absorbed into normal teaching time in most of the city’s schools.
The city bears no legal responsibility to offer children this extra teaching time. According to a Morgunbladid source who works in an elementary school, Reykjavik city seems to be looking in all the wrong places at how to save money in the schools. The unnamed person believes more traditional money saving means would be better, such as merging classes and slim lining each school’s management structure.
It’s just going back to how things were a couple of years ago. That’s not the end of the world.
YEAH! LETS SAVE MONEY IN HEALTH AND EDUCATION… WHY SHOULD BE SPENDING SO MUCH IN EDUCATION?? LETS CLOSE THE SCHOOLS AND GO BACK TO THE MIDDLE AGES… WHO NEEDS TO READ OR LEARN HOW TO BE A CITIZEN ?? CHILDREN SHOULD NOT GO TO SCHOOL SO MANY HOURS. IT IS BETTER IF THEY START WORKING INSTEAD. THEY COULD MAKE LIKE TWO HOURS A DAY CLEANING FISH AT THE FACTORY. AND THEIR PARENTS SHOULD GIVE THEM ONLY ONE MEAL PER DAY. THEY ARE ONLY CHILDREN, THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY, SO WHY SPEND SO MUCH MONEY IN THEM? IT IS JUST SUCH A WASTE REALLY, SPECIALLY BECAUSE THEY BELONG TO THE WORKING CLASS.
EDUCATION SHOULD BE FOR FREE ONLY UNTIL CHILDREN ARE 10 YEARS OLD. THEN THEY SHOULD PAY FOR THEIR EDUCATION. THIS IS THE BEST WAY OF SAVING MONEY AND ENSURE THAT WE GET CLOSER TO THAT DREAM WE ALL HAVE OF ICELAND AS A REAL BANANA REPUBLIC.
NO JOBS, NO MONEY AND NOW, NO EDUCATION!!
LETS CELEBRATE THE NEW WELFARE SYSTEM !!
LETS ALL SING!! 1,2,3…. WE ARE THE WOORRRRLLD, WE ARE THE CHILDREN…
iceland should become a colony of china and learn chinese so we can help you with your financial problem the world does not need iceland but iceland needs the world
Yea great idea.
The city can save a bit of money on this. The down side is that then the parents are going to have to spend more money on after-school daycare. I have no figures, but I believe that the amount that the daycares will charge the parents is going to be a great deal more than the city is going to save on teachers salaries. So, the city saves and the parents lose. Why am I not really surprised?
I AGREE IN REDUCING THE HOURS ICELANDIC CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL. WHY WASTING SO MUCH MONEY AND TIME TRYING TO MAKE THEM INTELLIGENT BEINGS??
THEY ARE JUST WHAT THEY ARE AND THEY ARE HAPPY LIKE THAT WITH THEIR IDEA OF PERFECT RACE AND GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
THEY DON´T NEED SO MUCH SCHOOL. I THINK IT WILL BE ENOUGH TO KEEP SENDING THEM MORE INTERNATIONAL AID AND IFM HELP IN THE WAY OF LOANS AND THAT…
CLOSE THE SCHOOLS AND GO FISHING!! ALL IS ABOUT THE ICELANDIC FISH, SO WHY STUDYING?? WHY HAVING A COMPETITIVE UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES?? WHY DIVERSIFICATING THE ECONOMY AND MAKE IT COMPETENT AND MODERN??
ALL WE NEED IS FISH, FISH FISH… AND THE VIKING RACE!!!
LETS BURN THE BOOKS !!! AND LETS TV CONTROL US MORE!!
If the school hours are cut by 5 hours a week that is around a 12% cut.
The solution is simple the lazy teachers and children just have to work 12% harder.
@ISK
Not sure we can call the teachers lazy. They honestly seem to try very hard. What was supposed to be 40 minutes of “homework help” has turned into 40 more minutes of teaching the core study. Also, this 12% savings the city is looking at. That will come straight off the teachers salary. So yes the teachers (at least of my son) will in fact work harder and for less.
Simply put, this is a horrible idea. The school day should not be getting shortened to save the city money. It should be getting longer to save the parents money. Also to get the 40 minutes of “homework help” back into the system.
Not sure about how long most went to school when they were kids, but I went from 7:30am to 4:30 pm when I was growing up. My school day was basically as long as my folks work day. Never went to daycare and most my homework was done in the class that was actually for that purpose.
A message received via email from Stu, a reader in Australia:
“I just read your article on how the Reykjavik city education department is trying to save money by cutting 40 minutes a day in tuition, and then I read a previous post by you on March 5 2009 when primary school numbers dropped but teaching staff numbers increased. I think I know where the Reykjavik city education department may have gone wrong.”
JUST THINK ABOUT THAT IN COUNTRIES LIKE SPAIN, ITALY AND GREECE THEY ARE REDUCING THE RATIO STUDENT/TEACHER, WICH MEANS THAT LESS STUDENTS IN EACH CLASSROOM. IT IS GOING ON AN AUTHENTIC REVOLUTION DOWN THERE. 23% MORE TEACHER CONTRACTED THIS YEAR, 15% INCREASE IN RESEARCH AT UNIVERSITIES. 30% INCREASE FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PHD AND MASTERS PROGRAMS. INVESTMENTS WITHOUT PRECEDENTS IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION FOR NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND INCLUSIVE, INTERCULTURAL AND BILINGUAL EDUCATION. BETTER SCHOOLS, BETTER TEACHERS, BETTER EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM.
WHILE IN EU THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER ABOUT EDUCATION IN ICELAND THEY ARE JUST TAKING MORE STEPS BACK… ICELANDIC SCHOOLS ARE VERY BEHIND IN COMPARISON TO THE EU EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM. BUT IT IS GOOD THAT ICELANDERS TAKE STEPST TO ALSO MAKE THE SCHOOL ADAPT TO THIS DEVELOPING THIRD WORLD COUNTRY THIS NATION IS BECOMING.
- BAD EDUCATION.
-HUGE CUTS IN THE HEALTH SYSTEM.
-LOW INVESTMENT IN SCHOOLS.
-HUGE INTERNATIONAL DEBTS.
-RUINED ECONOMY.
-AKWARD AND NOT COMPETITIVE INDUSTRY.
-LACK OF DEMOCRATIC EFFICIENCY.
-SOCIAL CONSTERNATION.
-AND A LONG ETC…
IF WE COMPARE WHAT ICELAND WITH ARGENTINA, THIS IS GOING WORSE HERE NOW THAN THERE YEARS AGO… AT LEAST ARGENTINIANS HAVE VERY GOOD UNIVERSITIES AND SCHOOLS.
ICELAND IS FAR AWAY FROM THE EUROPEAN MODEL OF EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES, SOCIAL PROTECTION, ETC…
less hours
AXEL SAID:
“A message received via email from Stu, a reader in Australia:
“I just read your article on how the Reykjavik city education department is trying to save money by cutting 40 minutes a day in tuition, and then I read a previous post by you on March 5 2009 when primary school numbers dropped but teaching staff numbers increased. I think I know where the Reykjavik city education department may have gone wrong.”
WELL AXEL, TEACHING STAFF NUMBERS INCREASED. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT THERE WERE MORE PEOPLE WORKING AT SCHOOLS, THE INCREASE WAS ABOUT MORE QUALIFIED PEOPLE IN THE SCHOOLS. ICELAND IS A COUNTRY WHERE YOU CAN FIND POEPLE WITHOUT ANY UNIVERSITY DEGREE OR TEACHERS QUALIFICATION TEACHING AT A SCHOOL…
AND THEN THEY SAY IT IS A DEVELOPED COUNTRY.. YEAH RIGHT!!
ICELAND IS MAKING CUTS IN ANYTHING RELATED TO SCHOOL SYSTEM. THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN HASN´T DROPPED AT ALL, THEY ARE MORE NOW THAN EVER BEFORE!!!
STILL THERE ARE MANY PLACES NEEDED FOR CHILDREN AT KINDERGARDENS AND SCHOOLS AND THERE IS EVEN A WAITING LIST!!
WE NEED MORE SCHOOLS AND MORE TEACHERS!!EVERYONE KNOWS THAT!!
The core lesson from the collapse of Iceland economy was lack of well educated and professional leaders of the nation…
Instead of strengthen education, now cutting schooling hours, less education funds, what the Iceland can expect in the future then?
we should have shorrter school yearsss