Municipal school services for students and parents: Policy, organization and content

Abstract

This paper focuses on the part of municipal school services in Iceland that comprises support to students in preschools and primary schools, and their parents. It seeks to answer the question what characterises the policy, organization and content of the services and how likely they are to support education for all. The findings are a part of a larger research project on municipal school services. They are based on a questionnaire submitted to the principals of preschools and compulsory schools and school service directors, interviews with school service staff in five cases, and a document analysis of the respective municipal web pages. The main findings are: 1) that the policy and practices of school services are characterized by an emphasis on the analysis of deviations defined as students’ problems, 2) that the effectiveness of consultation following diagnosis needs to be increased and that the common understanding of its nature and content needs to enhanced, 3) support for school services needs to be strengthened in tackling the challenges of education for all, and 4) there is a need for more active coordination of service systems outside the school. The results draw attention to education for all and equity in education at the national level and can be used by municipalities to enhance services for individual students and teachers and to strengthen schools as professional institutions.