I am pleased to announce that we have recently finished our second country audit! Our first external audit took place in Malta and was finalised in 2015. Now, the Agency has presented a final Audit report for Iceland to Mr Kristján Þór Júlíusson, the Icelandic Minister for Education, Science and Culture.
On 2 March 2017, Mr Per Gunnvall, the Chair of the Agency, handed over the Audit report to the Education Minister, in the presence of Mr Óttarr Proppé, Minister of Health, and Mr Þorsteinn Víglundsson, Minister of Social Affairs and Equality, and many other stakeholders.
Our Audit concluded that Iceland’s policy on inclusive education is very strong in terms of aims and is very much in alignment with international directives. However, the implementation of this policy still faces many challenges. This conclusion probably holds for many more countries: objectives and goals are usually in line with United Nations conventions and European targets, but in practice there are still important steps to be taken.
For Iceland, three key recommendations or critical levers were defined as starting points for the near future. The first was to achieve an agreement among stakeholders regarding what inclusive education in practice would mean. The second referred to agreeing on minimum levels of provision in schools in Iceland. The third recommendation was to bring financing mechanisms in line with the goals of inclusive education.
There is a good chance that Iceland will implement these three recommendations in the near future since – on the same day the Audit report was launched – the three ministers and a series of other key stakeholders who were involved in the Audit formally agreed to co-operate in implementing the Audit’s outcomes.
The presentation of the Audit process and report is available in a video on the Icelandic Association of Local Authorities website.