DISE Matters | Dr. Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson, “Inclusive Education and Education about Gender in Iceland”

Presented by Professor Paul Zanazanian, Dept. of Integrated Studies (DISE), McGill Faculty of Education, on behalf of DISE Matters.
 

Dr. Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson

Professor of Education, University of Iceland

• BA degree and cand.mag. degrees in history from the University of Iceland.
• PhD degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin in Madison 1991

His research areas include:

• education policy and curriculum
• inclusive education
• gender and education from a feminist poststructuralist perspective.
• teaching and learning in upper secondary schools in Iceland.

Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson is a member of the Nordic Center of Excellence Justice Through Education in the Nordic Countries.

This presentation provides a brief overview of the education system in Iceland. Then it proceeds to discuss two particular topics that relate to social justice in education systems.

First, how the inclusive education ideals of the UNESCO’s 1994 Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education have been implemented and played out in the education system in Iceland.

Second, Iceland has since 2009 scored as the most gender-equal country on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. However, education about gender and queer issues has only been low on the agenda of most schools in Iceland although there is in recent years a remarkable initiative in upper secondary schools.

The presentation offers a discussion on gender studies education as well as queer studies in the Icelandic school system.