Minister of Education Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir has developed four new bills on amendments to the educational system in Iceland which will be submitted to the Althingi parliament in the next few days.
One of the bills includes obligating the state to educate all teenagers 18 and younger (currently set at 16), that is, to provide all teenagers who want to study with two years of secondary education. The minister is, however, not proposing prolonging compulsory education, Morgunbladid reports.
Another change proposed by the minister involves the education of teachers. After 2011 aspiring teachers will have to complete five years of study at university and require a masters degree before they have the right to call themselves teachers.
The new bills also aim to increase the importance of vocational training and internships.
Several committees and workgroups have helped developing the educational bills for the past four years.
