The number of teachers increased by 120 despite fewer pupils
In autumn 2006 there were 7,561 staff members in compulsory schools in Iceland. Teaching staff members were 4,961, an increase of 120 since the autumn of 2005, or by 2.5%. These teaching staff members work 4,972 full-time equivalent jobs, an increase of 96 since last year (2.0%). The number of teaching staff has increased depite 461 fewer pupils than in 2005. This increase is only seen in the number of special education teachers, whose number increased from 275 to 476, while the number of general teachers decreased. These statistics come from the annual data collection by Statistics Iceland which takes place in October.

Almost 86% of teaching staff are licenced teachers
There are 4,261 licenced teachers in the compulsory schools in Iceland, an increase of 64 from the previous year. Never before has the number of licenced teachers been greater since the beginning of the data collection by Statistics Iceland in autumn 1997. The proportion of licenced teachers decreased slightly since the autumn of 2005 when 86.7% of teachers had a teaching licence, but now 85.9% are licenced. The proportion of licensed teachers is greatest in Reykjavík where 93.2% of teachers hold a teaching licence. The proportion is lowest in East Iceland, where 68.2% of teachers hold a teaching licence. The greateast reduction in the proportion of licenced teachers since last year has also taken place in East Iceland, when 73.5% of teachers were licenced. The greatest increase in the proportion of licenced teachers has occurred in the West fjords, where the proportion of licenced teachers increased from 65.3% to 72.0%.

Teacher turnover increased between school years
In October 2006 17.1% of teaching staff members who were employed in October 2005 had left or taken leave from their jobs, a total of 830 teachers. The turnover rate is higher than has been measured up to now in the Statistics Iceland data collection since its start in 1997. Teacher turnover is greatest among those who do not have a teaching licence and among part-time teachers. When looking only at licenced teachers 611 had left or taken leave from their jobs, or 14.6% of licenced teachers working in compulsory schools in October 2005. Never before has the turnover rate of licenced teachers been measured this high. During the same period the turnover rate of unlicenced teachers was 34.0%.

The largest age group of teachers is in the fifties
The largest age group of teaching staff is 40-44 year olds. A total of 16.0% of teaching staff belong to that age group. When comparing the age distribution of teaching staff to that 5 years ago it can be seen that a greater proportion of teachers are older than 55 years old and fewer are younger than 30 years old (figure 2). Now 18.5% of teaching staff are 55 or older while the proportion was 14.1% in 2001. During the same period the proportion of teachers under 30 years old has decreased from 14.2% to 11.1%.