Iceland University rejects engineer’s teaching qualification application

The University of Iceland has rejected Bjarki Hvannberg’s application to study for teaching qualifications at upper-secondary level, mbl.is reports. Hvannberg, an engineer with a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh, said the decision made him think of Iceland’s education system, which ranked near the bottom in a new PISA assessment.

Hvannberg said he applied this spring to enter the university’s programme for upper-secondary teachers because he considered it more suitable than the semester he had completed at the University of Akureyri.

“I thought this would be a formality, but they declined my presence in the programme,” he wrote on Facebook.

According to Hvannberg, the University of Iceland said engineering was not a teaching subject in Icelandic upper-secondary schools and that his master’s degree from Edinburgh was not equivalent to a degree from the University of Iceland. He noted that the University of Edinburgh was listed among the world’s 50 best universities, while the University of Iceland was not listed among the top 500.

Hvannberg said five former engineering students had received similar responses. He questioned why people with education and professional experience found it so difficult to obtain teaching qualifications.

“Since there is only one teaching licence for all school levels, it would apparently be preferable to hire a preschool teacher to teach mathematics in the upper grades of primary school or in upper-secondary school rather than me,” he wrote.

Hvannberg said he recognised that preschool teachers had more training in educational studies than he did. However, he argued that nearly 50 years of life experience should help with classroom management and supporting students.

He said he was not opposed to having to obtain teaching qualifications, but believed the process should be easier than requiring two years of full-time master’s study.

The latest PISA assessment, organised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, covered about 760,000 15-year-old students in nearly 100 countries and economies. According to the report cited in the article, only North Macedonia ranked below Iceland.