In this study, we surveyed primary and secondary school teachers in Iceland to gather information about the gender distribution among teachers and to examine differences in subject specialization between primary and secondary school teachers.
A total of 157 primary school teachers teaching grades 8 to 10 and 127 secondary school teachers participated in the survey. We analyzed the gender distribution of participants and compared it to the data from Statistics Iceland for the year 2021.
Our survey found that the vast majority of participants were female, comprising 81.3% of the total respondents. This gender distribution is slightly higher than the national average reported by Statistics Iceland for 2021 (80.4%).
We also observed that there was a higher proportion of female primary school teachers (84.7%) compared to the national average, while the gender distribution among secondary school teachers (77.2%) was more in line with the national average. This suggests that the Icelandic school system still faces challenges in terms of gender balance among teachers.
Furthermore, we noted that primary school teachers in Iceland often teach multiple subjects, resulting in a higher number of teachers teaching languages, social sciences, and science. In contrast, secondary school teachers typically specialize in a particular subject area.
The results of our study highlight the importance of continuing efforts to achieve gender balance among teachers in the Icelandic school system. Further research could explore the impact of subject specialization on teaching practices and student learning outcomes.