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The theoretical and practical dilemma of creating a new organisational design for a municipality using sub-municipal units
Get PDFOrganisational design is an important factor in determining the survival of organisations. The organisation and design of municipalities and local government is no exception to that rule. Concluding an amalgamation process indicates that a new organisational design must be introduced. The rule of thumb is that such proposals do not deviate much from the organisational tradition of local government in country or region in question. However, there are exceptions to that rule. Following an amalgamation of four Icelandic municipalities in 2020 a new organisational design was introduced. Consequently, a municipality with submunicipal units was established for the first time in Iceland. Submunicipal councils with a mixture of directly and indirectly elected members were created in each of the previous four separate municipalities, creating a second administrative tier within the municipality. The aim of the new design was to address problems inherent in amalgamation processes such as alienation of smaller communities within the new municipality often resulting in feelings of low levels of democratic legitimacy in many newly established municipalities. Another aim was to ensure that the municipal administration and services were organised aligned with local needs. The study aims to shed light on both the theoretical and practical dilemma of creating a new organisational design for a new municipality by using an interdisciplinary approach combining organisational theory with theory and studies on local government. Therefore, the study explores how successful this new municipal design is through the development of the municipal organisational chart, and survey results
Eru vannýtt tækifæri til að draga úr skattsvikum? Spjótum beint að siðferði og persónuleika
Get PDFThe scope of tax evasion is significant in Iceland. By reducing such economic crime, it is possible to increase public income considerably. The aim of the study was twofold. Firstly, to shed light on what might explain why some members of society are more likely to evade taxes than others. In that regard, a focus was put on both tax morale and personality traits. Secondly, the study seeks to answer which groups of taxpayers should be targeted to reduce tax evasion. With an electronic convenience sample, responses were obtained from 593 individuals who answered a questionnaire measuring tax evasion, tax morale, and personality. The results revealed that tax morale has the strongest predictive value on whether people are likely to evade taxes. Furthermore, the personality traits of humility and honesty along with psychopathy are of considerable importance in this regard. The results of a cluster analysis showed that it is most optimal to divide taxpayers into three groups which were named the honorable citizens, the fickle citizens, and the cunning citizens. The honorable citizens are very unlikely to evade taxes and have high tax morale. It would therefore not be an efficient use of resources to focus on that group. The other two groups, the fickle and the cunning citizens, are groups that should be targeted. It is probably most feasible to prioritize strategies aimed at the fickle citizens, although the cunning citizens must also be considered. Different measures need to be used to target these groups, as is discussed in the paper.Umfang skattsvika er umtalsvert hér á landi. Sé dregið úr slíkum efnahagsglæpum er hægt að auka tekjur hins opinbera töluvert. Markmið rannsóknarinnar var annars vegar að varpa ljósi á hvað kunni að skýra það að sumir samfélagsþegnar eru líklegri en aðrir til að svíkja undan skatti. Í því skyni var bæði einblínt á skattasiðferði og persónuleikaeinkenni einstaklinga. Hins vegar var markmiðið að greina hvaða hópa skattgreiðenda sé fýsilegt að miða aðgerðir að með það að leiðarljósi að draga úr skattsvikum. Í gegnum rafrænt hentugleikaúrtak fengust svör frá 593 einstaklingum sem svöruðu spurningalista þar sem áform um skattsvik, skattasiðferði og persónuleiki var mældur. Niðurstöðurnar sýndu að skattasiðferði hefur veigamesta forspárgildið um það hvort fólk sé líklegt til að svíkja undan skatti. Jafnframt reyndust persónuleikaeinkennin heiðarleiki og auðmýkt annars vegar og siðblinda hins vegar skipta töluverðu máli í þessu sambandi. Niðurstöður klasagreiningar leiddu í ljós að ákjósanlegt sé að skipta skattgreiðendum í þrjá hópa sem nefndir voru heiðvirðu samfélagsþegnarnir, hverfulu samfélagsþegnarnir og refjóttu samfélagsþegnarnir. Hinir heiðvirðu eru mjög ólíklegir til að svíkja undan skatti og hafa hátt skattasiðferði. Það væri því ekki skilvirk nýting á fjármagni að einblína á einstaklinga í þeim hópi. Hinir tveir hóparnir, hinir hverfulu og refjóttu, eru hópar sem ætti markvisst að miða á til að draga úr skattsvikum. Fýsilegast er líklega að setja í forgang aðgerðir sem miða að hinum hverfulu þó jafnframt þurfi að huga að hinum refjóttu. Beita þarf ólíkum aðgerðum til að ná til þessara hópa, líkt og farið er yfir í greininni
Wicked Problem of Regional Development Policy in Iceland
No full textWith increasing globalization, the influence of global drivers on local livelihood and prosperity is becoming more apparent at the local level. Global drivers are for the most part driven by economic incentives and often disregard sustainable rural development. This paper uses a political economy perspective to investigate how global impacts are affecting regional development policy. This is accomplished via content analysis and literary study of regional development policy documents post-2000 in Iceland, recognized as a predominately rural island nation. Contributing to the literature on public administration and policy in Iceland and elsewhere, the paper argues that regional development and sustainability in rural regions is a wicked problem and emphasises the importance of a holistic perspective in sustainable regional and rural development. Conclusions suggest that place-specific, nuanced approach needs to be taken to meet the demands of sustainable development. As influenced by the new regionalism, places, and the communities within them, differ in environmental, economic, social, and cultural ways. The uniqueness of places underpins the vital importance of inhabitants´ participation in decision making. Moreover, addressing wicked problems at the community level is an easier and a more transparent way to diagnose and manage issues of concern
„Drasl sem gull“: Áhersla leikskóla á opinn efnivið og val barna á leikjum í kynjafræðilegu ljósi
Get PDFIceland has a specific clause on gender equality education in the 2011 National Curriculum issued for all school levels, and the legislation about gender equality also stipulates gender equality education at all school levels. Yet a number of studies of the Icelandic schools suggest that the schools, overall, do not deliver successful gender equality education (e.g., Þorgerður Einarsdóttir & Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson, 2011; Þórdís Þórðardóttir, 2016). The preschool level, called leikskólar (direct translation: playschools), is the first school level in Iceland. This study focuses on the learning environment and play materials in six randomly selected Icelandic preschools, and on the ideas of the teachers of the oldest children in the schools (typically five-year-old children). The article asks two questions: Can open play materials be the basis for gender equality education in the preschools? What kind of impact do ideas about children’s free choice of play and play materials have on gender equality education? We observed the play in one classroom for one to three hours in each school and after that the preschool teacher in charge was interviewed. The findings suggest that there is an emphasis on open play materials, also called undefined play materials, and also on recycled play materials. These two are not synonyms, although the recycled materials are most often open. Open play materials could be purchased materials without predetermined purposes, such as blocks, clay, paint, or wooden toys. Examples of recycled materials included yogurt containers, cardboard boxes, textiles, old toys, and jigsaw puzzles which are often gifts from various households. Our findings are organized under two headings: Open play materials and recycled play materials; and the question is whether the preschools are organized as genderneutral or strategically from a gender equality education perspective. In all participating schools, open play materials played a large role, whether purchased or recycled. The preschool teachers emphasized that this is important to foster imagination. In all of the schools it was considered important that the children selected their own play and play materials. One of the teachers said: „Our role is to be here, oversee what takes place, not control the play“. However, the preschool teachers thought it important to intervene to teach good manners and good communication between the children. The teachers were asked about gender differences which they often noted, but they did not intervene much because of those. We asked specifically whether the learning environment and the play materials had been investigated with a gender perspective in mind – and the result was that this had often not been done. The most common example of this practice was to review older books. The teachers did not see the need to study the play or the materials from a gender perspective because of the emphasis on the open play materials and the fact that the children choose the material freely and mainly based on their own interests. The open play materials were thought to contribute to a gender-neutral environment at the schools. The emphasis on open play materials and recycled play materials appears to come at the cost of focusing on gender equality, because in all schools except one, the learning environment and the children’s play materials had not been strategically organized through the lens of gender. Similarly, the emphasis on having the children select their own play and play materials seems to hide the fact that the children bring their own views about the roles of the genders from home. This is similar to the conclusions of our Australian colleague Chapman (2016). It is important to foster the sprouts of critical reflection that we also detected to organize the use of gender perspectives for reviewing the preschool practices.Markmið rannsóknarinnar var að skoða leikefni í nokkrum leikskólum út frá kynjafræðilegu sjónarhorni og kanna viðhorf leikskólakennara til leiks og leikefnis barna. Fylgst var með starfi einnar elstu deildar í sex leikskólum hluta úr degi og tekin viðtöl við deildarstjórana. Áhorfið var notað sem umræðugrundvöllur í viðtölunum en einnig voru deildirnar og leikefnið sem þar var að finna skoðað. Fram kom að í leikskólunum var lögð mikil áhersla á að nota bæði margvíslegan opinn efnivið, svo sem kubba, en einnig verðlausan efnivið, svo sem skyrdósir, tauefnisbúta og pappakassa. Mikil áhersla var lögð á það að börnin veldu sjálf hvernig þau lékju sér. Loks kom fram að fremur lítið var unnið að því að skoða starfið markvisst út frá sjónarhorni kynjajafnréttis. Leiða má að því líkum að áhersla skólanna á opinn efnivið og verðlausan efnivið og á það að börnin velji frjálst hvernig þau leika sér geti leitt til þess að síður sé horft á starfið út frá kynjafræðilegu sjónarhorni
Ritdómur: Danske reformationssalmer i kontekst
Get PDFritstj. Bjarke Moe, Marita Akhøj Nielsen og Simon Skovgaard Boeck. Kaupmannahöfn: Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab og Óðinsvéum: Syddansk Universitetsforlag, 2022, 373 bls
Ritdómur: Climate Change and the Symbol Deficit in the Christian Tradition: Expanding Gendered Sources
Get PDFClimate Change and the Symbol Deficit in the Christian Tradition: Expanding Gendered Sources, eftir Jan-Olav Henriksen. T&T Clark Explorations in Theology, Gender and Ecology, ritstj. Hilda P. Koster og Arnfríður Guðmundsdóttir. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022, 267 bls
María frá Nasaret: Móðir Jesú í Nýja testamentinu
Get PDFMaría frá Nasaret, móðir Jesú, hefur gegnt miðlægu hlutverki í sögu kristindómsins um aldir. Í því ljósi vekur það athygli hversu takmarkaða umfjöllun hún hlýtur í raun í elsta og helsta ritsafni kristindómsins, Nýja testamentinu. Í þessari grein er gefið yfirlit yfir tilvísanir til Maríu í Nýja testamentinu og lýsingar einstakra höfunda á persónu hennar og háttum greindar. Leitast er við að svara spurningum eins og eftirfarandi: Sjáum við lýsingar á per-sónueiginleikum Maríu, orðum og hugsunum? Eða takmarkast þessar tilvísanir við þá ein-földu staðreynd að hún var móðir Jesú? Lýsa höfundarnir samskiptum Maríu og Jesú? Hvernig er þeim samskiptum þá háttað? Lögð er áhersla á bókmenntafræðilega persónu-sköpun ásamt framsetningu hvers höfundar fyrir sig. Almenna niðurstaðan er sú að rit Nýja testamentisins veita fremur brotakennda og jafnframt fjölþætta mynd af persónu Maríu.María frá Nasaret, móðir Jesú, hefur gegnt miðlægu hlutverki í sögu kristindómsins um aldir. Í því ljósi vekur það athygli hversu takmarkaða umfjöllun hún hlýtur í raun í elsta og helsta ritsafni kristindómsins, Nýja testamentinu. Í þessari grein er gefið yfirlit yfir tilvísanir til Maríu í Nýja testamentinu og lýsingar einstakra höfunda á persónu hennar og háttum greindar. Leitast er við að svara spurningum eins og eftirfarandi: Sjáum við lýsingar á per-sónueiginleikum Maríu, orðum og hugsunum? Eða takmarkast þessar tilvísanir við þá ein-földu staðreynd að hún var móðir Jesú? Lýsa höfundarnir samskiptum Maríu og Jesú? Hvernig er þeim samskiptum þá háttað? Lögð er áhersla á bókmenntafræðilega persónu-sköpun ásamt framsetningu hvers höfundar fyrir sig. Almenna niðurstaðan er sú að rit Nýja testamentisins veita fremur brotakennda og jafnframt fjölþætta mynd af persónu Maríu
Tengslin milli Grímseyjar og Korintu : Díakonía frá sjónarhóli norðurslóða
Get PDFAbstractAcademic attention to the Arctic regions of the world has been increasing in the past decades. This interest is connected to human emissions and activities which have led to climate change and melting ice, with a global impact. Interdisciplinary studies connected to the northernmost regions of the world are called Arctic Studies. In a new book on ecumenical diaconia, the World Council of Churches has mapped diaconal activities in the context of nine regions of the world. This article adds the tenth regional context to the diaconal map, which is the context of Arctic diakonia. The focus of the article is the region that used to belong to the Danish-Norwegian empire, from Greenland to Sápmi. The article asks what kind of difference an Arctic context makes in defining Icelandic diakonia and ministry of the deacon in the Lutheran Church of Iceland. The article uses diaconal theories on the importance of local context, mission and equality between periphery and center to analyze Icelandic diakonia, as ordained caritative and educational ministry. The article introduces selected diaconal research connected to Arctic regions. The research indicated that it is important not to romanticize the Arctic, but rather acknowledge the impact of colonialism and the methods of mission, give room for the lost trauma stories to be told and heard, and to show resistance against extractivism in the Arctic.Undanfarna áratugi hafa nyrstu svæði jarðar notið vaxandi athygli vísindamanna fyrir margra hluta sakir. Ekki síst er þessi áhugi tengdur loftslagsbreytingum af mannavöldum og bráðnun íss á norðurslóðum, sem hefur hnattræn áhrif. Þverfaglegar rannsóknir á málefnum tengdum svæðunum í norðri nefnast einu nafni norðurslóðafræði. Alkirkjuráðið hefur kort-lagt díakoníu út frá aðstæðum á níu landsvæðum heimsins í nýrri bók um samkirkjulega díakoníu. Í greininni er bætt við tíunda landsvæðinu á díakoníukortið, þ.e.a.s. díakoníu á norðurslóðum, og er áhersla lögð á þann hluta norðurslóða sem tilheyrt hefur hinu dansk-norska heimsveldi, frá Grænlandi til Sápmi. Spurt er um hvaða áhrif staðsetning á norður-slóðum hefur þegar íslensk díakonía og djáknaþjónusta í þjóðkirkjunni er skilgreind í sam-hengi norðurslóðanna. Díakoníukenningar sem tengjast staðþekkingu á jöðrum samfélags-ins, boðun og jafnræði, eru nýttar til greiningar á hlutverki díakoníunnar og djáknaþjónust-unnar hér á landi sem umönnunar- og fræðsluþjónustu og valdar díakoníurannsóknir sem tengjast sérstaklega norðurslóðum eru kynntar. Jafnframt gefa rannsóknirnar til kynna að mikilvægt er að búa ekki til rómantíska skrautmynd af norðurslóðum, heldur horfast í augu við skuggahliðar nýlenduhyggjunnar og kristniboðsaðferða fortíðar, gefa rými svo að týndar áfallasögur fáist sagðar og á þær hlustað, og loks að unnið sé gegn áframhaldandi ásókn í auðlindir á norðurslóðum
Formáli ritstjóra
Get PDFFormáli Arnfríðar Guðmundsdóttur ritstjóra.Formáli Arnfríðar Guðmundsdóttur ritstjóra
Traust og samvinna um skapandi skólastarf í opnu og sveigjanlegu námsumhverfi: Margrét Einarsdóttir grunnskólakennari
No full textThis article focuses on the eventful career and unique experience of Margrét Einarsdóttir, a compulsory school teacher and leader. It is based upon two lengthy research interviews with Margrét and previous studies conducted by the author in collaboration with other researchers on school housing and new teaching practices tied to innovative education and technology. The study highlights the interplay between administrative efforts, teaching, and the physical learning environment on Margret’s professional journey through several compulsory schools. An attempt is made to highlight how innovative and open-plan school facilities support or encourage teacher collaboration, team teaching, group work among students and project-based learning.
Through her years as a compulsory school teacher, teacher administrator, and school principal, Margret has had exceptionally rich opportunities to participate in the design of interesting learning environments and new school buildings. She started as a young school teacher in Dalvik on the north coast of Iceland, where she joined a group of devoted teachers determined to encourage student collaboration and student agency. The group used wide classroom doors and open spaces between classrooms, allowing them to organise collaborative school projects and workstations tied to selected themes.
Margret got closely acquainted with the pioneers of the Scottish Storyline Method. She made time, alongside her teaching efforts, to introduce the method to her coworkers and fellow teachers at other schools. After a short stop at Langholtsskoli, an established compulsory school in Reykjavik, where she worked with two other teachers in a set of regular classrooms and shared corridor space, she became a teacher at Korpulfsstadir, a majestic old farmhouse on the outskirts of Reykjavik. The facilities were applied temporarily and had to be used in imaginative ways on a collaborative basis.
Margret was at this point invited to participate in a consultation group established by the city of Reykjavik under the supervision of Gerdur G. Oskarsdottir and led by architect Bruce A. Jilk, and educator George H. Copa, experts brought in from Minnesota in the United States. Its mission was to lay out the design of Ingunnarskoli, a new groundbreaking school. The group comprised municipal politicians, municipal officials, educators (including the author of this article), architects, engineers and organisations representing different stakeholders. It laid the foundations of an extensive school building with an open-plan hall and library in the middle and classroom areas for up to 80–100 students on both sides.
In the continuum, Margret was asked to join a similar group that laid out the design of Korpuskoli. She enjoyed many years of practice as a teacher, administrative assistant and principal in this somewhat smaller yet open-plan building.
Margret moved on some years back, now to become the principal of Vesturbaejarskoli at the city’s western end. This led to yet another opportunity for her to participate in school building design, this time around a new extension or wing connected to an already established school building, reflecting, to an extent, open-plan trends from the previous century. This new building project is mostly remarkable for its transparency from one classroom to the next, adjoining areas in corridors that teachers and their students can easily use to their benefit in their daily school practice, and an open-plan library connecting new and older parts of the school. Open balconies on the roof contain a large greenhouse for different uses and offer a vivid view over a richly equipped and colourful playground.
Together with her team of administrative staff at Vesturbaejarskoli, Margret has made a successful effort to bring in digital devices and encourage the teaching staff to let students deploy digital technologies in collaborative work, a developmental project on making and other creative learning activities. Team teaching has furthermore been revived. After all her years of teaching and administrative practice, Margret remains a vivid advocate of team teaching and student agency supported by open and flexible school facilities.
The study findings indicate that open-plan and innovative school facilities, along with the pedagogical ideas underlying innovative school design, can become a venue for creative and dynamic school practices where the interest and collaboration of the teaching staff, together with a considerate and tactfully supportive leadership, leads to diverse teaching practices and flexible ways of learning. The research findings resonate in that respect with the understanding of many scholars that for school design to be successful in promoting collaboration and team teaching, group work and project-based learning adapted to the interests and needs of students, it has to be aligned with or supported by school organisation and culture.Greinin sem hér fer á eftir og rannsóknin sem þar er lýst beinast að viðburðaríkum starfsferli og um margt einstæðri reynslu Margrétar Einarsdóttur grunnskólakennara og skólastjóra. Til grundvallar liggja rannsóknarviðtöl við Margréti ásamt fyrri athugunum höfundar á húsakynnum skóla og innleiðingu nýrra kennsluhátta tengdum nýsköpun og tækni í samvinnu við aðra rannsakendur. Rannsóknin varpar ljósi á samspil stjórnunar, kennslu og húsakynna eða annars námsumhverfis á löngum starfsferli við nokkra íslenska grunnskóla. Athygli er beint að því hvernig nýstárleg og opin húsakynni og stundum tækni studdu við eða ýttu undir samstarf kennara, teymiskennslu, samvinnu nemenda og verkefnamiðað nám. Greint er frá lærdómsríkri samvinnu á Dalvík, námsdvöl í Skotlandi og nánum kynnum af söguaðferð, samstarfi kennara í ævintýralegu kennsluumhverfi Korpúlfsstaða og hugmyndavinnu um nýjar skólabyggingar í Reykjavík austanverðri; Ingunnarskóla og Korpuskóla. Lýst er opnum svæðum og framsæknu starfi í Korpuskóla eftir að hann var risinn og greint frá viðbyggingu Vesturbæjarskóla og þróunarstarfi þar um teymisvinnu og innleiðingu á nýsköpun og stafrænni tækni. Leitast er við að draga fram gildi opinna og sveigjanlegra húsakynna þegar efla á samvinnu um nám og kennslu og ýta undir atbeina nemenda í eigin námi. Niðurstöður benda til að opin og nýstárleg húsakynni, ásamt hugmyndum um nám og kennslu sem þar liggja til grundvallar, geti orðið vettvangur fyrir skapandi skólastarf þar sem áhugi og samvinna kennara, ásamt traustri leiðsögn og hæfilegum stuðningi stjórnenda, leiða til fjölbreyttra kennsluhátta og sveigjanlegs náms. Rannsóknarniðurstöður endurspegla þá kennisetningu að til þess að opin og nýstárleg húsakynni kalli fram samráð og teymiskennslu, samvinnu og verkefnamiðað nám lagað að áhuga og þörfum nemenda, þurfi menning og skipulag skóla að haldast í hendur við hönnun bygginga og mótun námsumhverfis