Hanna Ragnarsdóttir

University of Iceland | HI · School of Education

Icelandic education policy has a strong focus on inclusive education, but available Icelandic evidence indicates a lack of well-defined procedures in schools and municipalities aimed at inclusive education. Research literature has placed emphasis on the central role that school leaders play in developing inclusive schools. The purpose of this quali...

In 1979, at the behest of the Icelandic government, the Icelandic Red Cross resettled 34 Vietnamese refugees in Reykjavik. Through the decades, the group has expanded into three generations. This contribution explores the development of refugees’ descendants’ linguistic identities that are linked to Vietnamese and Icelandic, and answers the researc...

Due to the increasing number of young refugees in Europe, their right to an equitable, just education has been acknowledged. This chapter focuses on the educational and social experiences and the challenges faced by young Syrian refugees in Iceland. The overall findings of this chapter indicated that despite the multiple challenges faced by these y...

Language hierarchies, perceived and real, influence language choices and linguistic negotiations. Linguistic identities are socially constructed, and they are negotiated in all learning spaces. They may silence students or give them power to express themselves and be listened to. This chapter explores linguistic repertoires and linguistic negotiati...

ABSTRACT The growing immigrant population in Iceland has had an impact on Icelandic schools. These changes require that municipalities, schools, and teachers respond to the educational needs of these students. The aim of this research is to gain an understanding of how four municipalities in Iceland organize and structure support for immigrant stud...

This article derives from the research project Language policies and practices of immigrant families in Iceland and their implications for education. The aim of this qualitative research project is to explore family language policies and practices of immigrant families in Iceland as well as educational practices and partnerships in their children’s...

Growing immigration to Iceland in recent years is reflected in the education system. This qualitative research project aims at critically exploring the language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families and how these impact their children’s education. The theoretical framework includes writings on family language policy and linguisticall...

Iceland has seen rapidly changing demographics in recent years as a result of growing immigration to the country. This is reflected in the education system where children speak altogether around 100 languages. This qualitative research aims at exploring the language policies and practices of diverse immigrant families and their cooperation with the...

Educators and researchers increasingly recognise the impact of teachers’ agency on language education policy enactment in their classrooms. The study is aimed to conduct cross-cultural comparisons of Israeli and Icelandic teachers regarding their agency towards linguistically and culturally diverse children in a preschool context. We conducted semi...

Many refugee families face challenges in their new educational environments. This qualitative research study aims to explore the experiences of six Syrian refugee families who arrived in Iceland from Lebanon in 2016 and settled in three municipalities (Stjórnarráð Íslands 2019 Stjórnarráð Íslands [Government of Iceland]. 2019. Fjöldi flóttamanna [N...

This paper reports findings from a qualitative study on how municipalities organise and structure the support for students with immigrant background. The study is part of a larger research project, Inclusive Societies, which aims to compare integration patterns of immigrants in Iceland in various municipalities across the country. The project's ove...

In 2016, a group of 55 Syrian quota refugees arrived in Iceland from Lebanon and settled in three municipalities. There were 11 families comprising 20 adults and 35 children. This study¹ aimed to critically explore the experiences, opportunities and challenges of these children, their parents, their teachers and principals in the municipalities of...

The aim of the article is to introduce and discuss findings related to cultural and religious diversity and tolerance from a quantitative study on young people’s life views and life values in Iceland. The article addresses findings on the attitudes of young people in Iceland toward cultural and religious diversity and the significance of religion....

The aim of this qualitative study is to explore how staff at three Icelandic universities attend to the needs of students of immigrant background. The theoretical background includes critical multicultural studies which focus on analysing the position of minority groups in societies and education from a critical perspective [Parekh 2006 Parekh, B....

Due to increased migration in recent decades, universities must adapt their practices to meet the needs of a changing student body. Many immigrant students desire to complete their studies at universities, yet factors such as language of communication and cultural traditions limit their possibilities. This paper comes out of a study titled Educatio...

The aim of this paper is to present and analyze how university students experience teaching methods of Icelandic as a second language and communication with teachers during the learning process. The theoretical framework includes multicultural education theory and second language teaching and learning theories. The findings are based on qualitative...

The paper comes from the first extensive qualitative research project on immigrant students’ experiences of higher education in Iceland. The aim of the paper is to explore immigrant students’ experiences of different assessment methods, such as summative, formative and group assessment, applied in three Icelandic universities. The analysis of the p...

This research paper presents heritage language (HL) teachers’ views of HL instruction which they provide in the Greater Reykjavík Area, Iceland. The aim of the study was to explore their professional and personal experience of teaching plurilingual students as volunteer teachers, as well as to understand their motivation. The methods were mixed and...

Árið 2016 kom hópur sýrlenskra kvótaflóttafjölskyldna til Íslands frá Líbanon og settist að í þremur sveitarfélögum (Stjórnarráð Íslands, 2019). Markmið rannsóknarinnar, sem hófst síðla árs 2016 og er langtímarannsókn, eru að athuga reynslu flóttabarna og foreldra þeirra af leik- og grunnskólastarfi og frístundastarfi; og að athuga reynslu stjórnen...

Fólki af erlendum uppruna hefur fjölgað mjög á Íslandi undanfarna áratugi. Menntakerfi gegna mikilvægu hlutverki við aðlögun barna og ungmenna að nýju samfélagi og við að stuðla að lýðræðislegri þátttöku þeirra. Markmið þessarar yfirlitsgreinar er að varpa ljósi á helstu niðurstöður nýlegra rannsókna höfundar og samstarfsfólks um málefni barna og u...

Cultural and linguistic diversity of kindergarten children in Iceland has been growing rapidly in recent years ( Reykjavíkurborg, Skóla- og frístundasvið, 2017 ; Statistics Iceland, 2017 ), creating challenges for kindergartens. The main aim of the paper is to explore how principals, kindergarten teachers and parents in three kindergartens in Icela...

Gæði menntunar ungra barna eru ofarlega á baugi hjá stefnumótendum og hafa nýverið orðið forgangsmál hjá mörgum alþjóðlegum og evrópskum stofnunum. Vísbendingar eru um að almennt hafi ekki tekist að þróa áherslur í skólastarfi á Íslandi sem henta margbreytilegum barnahópi og að of mikil áhersla hafi verið lögð á greiningar sem forsendu fyrir stuðni...

The paper is based on the first, extensive, qualitative study on immigrant students’ experiences of university education in Iceland. The theoretical framework is based on culturally responsive teaching that derives from multicultural education theory which focuses on analysing the position of minority groups, including immigrants in societies with...

The article addresses some fundamental values in education and their implications in the Nordic countries, such as equity, democracy, social justice and inclusion, while its main aim is to introduce and discuss main findings from case studies in pre-, compulsory and upper secondary schools that are part of the Nordic research project; Learning Spac...

Studies of immigrant students in upper secondary school in Iceland often highlight low attendance rates and early school departure. This article interrogates this view through an exploration of the perspectives of 13 students of Vietnamese heritage in two upper secondary schools. The article mobilizes multicultural education which sees education as...

Heritage language education (HLE) problematizes issues of second language studies and culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2000), as it provides some answers to the sensitive topic of quality education of students of foreign background in mainstream schools (Trifonas and Aravossitas, 2014). HLE and plurilingualism receive increased attention and re...

Í kjölfar aukinna fólksf lutninga síðustu áratugi hefur innf lytjendum fjölgað í háskólum á Íslandi. Þessi grein er byggð á niðurstöðum rannsóknarverkefnisins Væntingar og tækifæri innf lytjenda á Íslandi til háskólamenntunar og áskoranir henni tengdar (2016-2018) sem styrkt er af Rannís. Meginmarkmið rannsóknarverkefnisins er að öðlast skilning á...

The article addresses some fundamental values in education and their implications in the Nordic countries, such as equity, democracy, social justice and inclusion, while its main aim is to introduce and discuss main findings from case studies in pre-, compulsory and upper secondary schools that are part of the Nordic research project; Learning Spac...

Studies of immigrant students in upper secondary school in Iceland often highlight low attendance rates and early school departure. This article interrogates this view through an exploration of the perspectives of 13 students of Vietnamese heritage in two upper secondary schools. The article mobilizes multicultural education which sees education as...

Linguistic and cultural diversity of preschools and compulsory school children and their families in Iceland has been steadily growing over the past few years, and currently around 11% of all preschool children and 7.6% of all compulsory school students have heritage languages other than Icelandic (Statistics Iceland. (2015a). Children in pre-prima...

What does it take to be an active member of contemporary diverse societies? What are important competences for communicating and participating in such societies and how are they expressed by young people? In this chapter I address these and other related questions and discuss the usefulness of different approaches in addressing the liquidity and co...

This article focuses on challenges principals and lead teachers meet in diverse schools in Iceland. The study was conducted in nine schools at three school levels that have been successful in implementing social justice and in creating inclusive learning spaces. The framework of path-goal theory and transactional and transformational leadership gui...

Heritage language education (HLE) problematizes issues of second language studies and culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay. Culturally responsive teaching: theory, research, and practice. Teachers College Press, New York, 2000), as it provides some answers to the sensitive topic of quality education of students of foreign background in mainstream sc...

Linguistic and cultural diversity of preschools and compulsory school children and their families in Iceland has been steadily growing over the past few years, and currently around 11% of all preschool children and 7.6% of all compulsory school students have heritage languages other than Icelandic (Statistics Iceland. (2015a). Children in pre-prima...

The book Learning Spaces for Social Justice: International Perspectives on Exemplary Practices from Preschool to Secondary School edited by Hanna Ragnarsdóttir and Clea Smith contains eight case studies focusing on inclusive practices and special education in various schools, ranging from preschool to secondary school, in both rural and urban setti...

The book Learning Spaces for Social Justice: International Perspectives on Exemplary Practices from Preschool to Secondary School edited by Hanna Ragnarsdóttir and Clea Smith contains eight case studies focusing on inclusive practices and special education in various schools, ranging from preschool to secondary school, in both rural and urban setti...

Since 2004, the opening of labour markets has spurred a considerable number of Poles to emigrate e.g. to Iceland and England. Families with school age children have had the challenge of adapting to foreign environments and school systems. Polish complementary schools have played an important, albeit ambivalent, role in this process. Through focus g...

Although we live in an era of multiple identities and belongings, origins still seem to matter. For most people origins are obvious and transparent. We all come from somewhere. Yet talking about one’s origins can be highly sensitive and problematic depending on our roles, emotions, interlocutors and contexts. This volume problematizes the relativit...

The International Studies in Education program at the University of Iceland illustrates how one university is responding to global trends in higher education. Through a case study we examined the significance of an innovative B.A. program, which is taught in English, aligned with values affirmed in critical multiculturalist scholarship, and designe...

In this paper, the development of educational policy and curricula in relation to the development of a multicultural society in Iceland are critically discussed. Neither policy nor national curriculum guides refer particularly to multicultural society, multicultural or intercultural education. Implementations of equity principles are not clear in t...