Iceland
Iceland
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* Estimates for Alberta (Canada), the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway should be interpreted with caution due to higher risk of non-response bias.
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Who the teachers are
The share of lower secondary teachers with non-teaching work experience in Iceland was among the largest across countries with available data. (94.9 %, rank 1/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teachers' practices
Teachers report spending less hours per week marking and correcting work. (3 Hours/week, rank 52/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teaching in multicultural settings
Among novice lower secondary teachers in Iceland, those reporting a high level of need for teaching in a multicultural or multilingual setting were among the highest across countries with available data. (37 %, rank 3/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teachers' autonomy, collegiality and collaboration
In Iceland, the share of lower secondary teachers who “agree” or “strongly agree” that their principal has good professional relationships with staff was among the smallest compared to other countries. (77.1 %, rank 55/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
The proportion of lower secondary teachers in Iceland who “agree” or “strongly agree” that students and teachers usually get along well with each other was among the highest across participating countries. (98.6 %, rank 2/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teachers' satisfaction with their jobs
Compared to most other TALIS countries, Iceland has a low proportion of teachers who are satisfied with the salary they receive for their work. (19.3 %, rank 52/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teachers’ working conditions, mobility and risk of attrition
The proportion of lower secondary teachers in Iceland working in schools where intimidation or verbal abuse occurs “weekly” or “daily” was among the highest across countries with available data. (13.9 %, rank 4/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
Teacher stress factors
The percentage of lower secondary teachers in Iceland who reported that being held responsible for student achievement is a source of stress was among the lowest across countries with available data. (29.2 %, rank 53/55 , 2024) Download Indicator
General findings
- Teachers are aging in many education systems. While the average age of teachers is around 45 years old, more than one out of two teachers are 50 or older.
- Prior non-teaching work experience is more and more common for teachers. In around half of the education systems, at least one out of two teachers have prior non-teaching work experience.
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- Around one in three teachers report having used artificial intelligence (AI) in their work, on average across OECD education systems.
- Many teachers – especially female and experienced teachers – report meeting key lesson aims, though supporting students' social and emotional learning remains challenging.
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- The large majority of teachers are satisfied with their profession, which indicates that most teachers find meaning and personal fulfilment in their work. Almost nine in ten teachers report that they are satisfied with their jobs overall.
- Administrative workload remains a considerable demand for teachers. About half of teachers report excessive administrative work as a source of work-related stress, particularly those with more than ten years of experience.
- Discipline and behaviour issues as sources of stress are important predictors of teachers’ fulfilment of their lesson aims, their well-being, job satisfaction and their intention to leave teaching. About one in five teachers report experiencing significant disruptive noise and disorder in their classrooms, and the share of time spent on maintaining discipline has increased since 2018.
- Teachers are spending more time working together compared to 2018. Full-time teachers report spending around 3 hours per week participating in teamwork and dialogue with colleagues. Teachers who report good professional relationships with principals, other teachers, parents and guardians, and students tend to report higher well-being and job satisfaction.
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- Administrative workload remains a considerable demand for teachers. About half of teachers report excessive administrative work as a source of work-related stress, particularly those with more than ten years of experience.
- Discipline and behaviour issues as sources of stress are important predictors of teachers’ fulfilment of their lesson aims, their well-being, job satisfaction and their intention to leave teaching. About one in five teachers report experiencing significant disruptive noise and disorder in their classrooms, and the share of time spent on maintaining discipline has increased since 2018.
- Teachers’ satisfaction with their terms of employment (including salary) has increased in many education systems since 2018.
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- Mentoring is gaining popularity. About one in four novice teachers (teachers with up to five years of teaching experience) has an assigned mentor.
- While nearly all teachers participate in continuous professional learning, not all of them find that doing so has a positive impact on their teaching. Just 55% of teachers report that the professional learning activities they participated in during the 12 months preceding the survey had a positive impact on their teaching.
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- Teachers are spending more time working together compared to 2018. Full-time teachers report spending around 3 hours per week participating in teamwork and dialogue with colleagues. Teachers who report good professional relationships with principals, other teachers, parents and guardians, and students tend to report higher well-being and job satisfaction.
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- Feedback and appraisal are common features of teachers’ professional lives. On average across OECD education systems, 88% of teachers report receiving feedback from their school principal, 61% from assigned mentors and 55% from external individuals or bodies. At the same time, principals report that only less than 6% of teachers are never formally appraised.
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All rankings for individual variables are compiled on the basis of OECD and G20 countries for which data are available. The OECD average includes only OECD countries which are listed here: https://www.oecd.org/en/about/members-partners.html
Reference years displayed in the Education GPS correspond to the most common year of reference among countries for which data is available on each variable. Data for the latest available year is preferred and some countries may have provided data refering to a more recent or late year. To know more about possible exceptions on data please click on the "Download Indicator" link on each variable. When a year of reference corresponds to a school year encompassing two years, the reference reads as follows: 2026 for school year 2025/2026.
*TALIS averages are based on all countries participating in the TALIS survey, including partner countries and economies. This explains the difference between the OECD average and the TALIS averages. Data from the TALIS survey and Education at a Glance (EAG) may differ. See Annex E of the TALIS technical report and Annex 3 of EAG 2024 for more details about the data collections.
For additional notes, please refer to annexes in the list of links below the introductory country profile text.


