Teaching methods in Reykjavik Compulsory Schools: Findings from external evaluations

Abstract

The Reykjavik Department of Education and Youth has conducted external evaluations of Reykjavik compulsory schools since 2007, evaluating the quality of teaching and learning in nearly all schools. Teaching methods were also registered. Since the beginning of 2009, a total of 1066 teaching hours have been evaluated, with 75% being graded good or excellent, a little more than 22% satisfactory, and slightly less than 3% unsatisfactory. The most common teaching methods recorded were pupils working on assignments under direct instruction from the teacher, and lecturing. Teacher control is pervasive, to the extent that the outcome of all pupils’ work is the same or similar. An analysis of the teaching methods shows that teacher control is more evident in academic subjects than in arts and crafts. Cooperation between pupils where they work together on a common project or towards a common solution was noted in 12% of the classroom visits and pupil-initiated work or work of his/her choice was noted in about 10% of the visits. Theme or project work was most often noted in social studies, and experiments in science classes, with the most common teaching method in those subjects being teacher initiated assignments and lecturing. There were no great differences in teaching methods between younger and older pupils. In all grades, teacher initiated assignments and lecturing were the most common teaching methods, but lecturing was more common in grades 8 to 10 than in the lower grades. These findings from over one thousand classroom visits show that the wide variety of working and teaching methods that are emphasized in The National Curriculum for Compulsory Schools (2011 as well as 2006). It is also of concern that pupils’ independence and cooperation, which are supposed to be among the key competences taught in compulsory schools, seem to get little attention and emphasis from teachers. Birna Sigurjónsdóttir (birna.sigurjonsdottir@reykjavik.is) is a project manager at the Reykjavik Department of Education and Youth. She graduated in 1978 with a B.Ed. from The Iceland University of Education and finished a M.Ed. in Educational Studies from the same university in 2000. Her main project at the Department of Education and Youth has since 2007 been evaluation of compulsory schools in Reykjavik.