Reykjavík Preschool Initiative moves to public consultation
The City Executive Council has approved moving proposed improvements to preschool learning and working environments into public consultation. This decision came after the steering group on the Reykjavík Preschool Initiative reached key milestones. The group's first set of proposals addresses children's hours of stay, restructured planning and a new fee schedule.
The proposed changes aim to improve working conditions, enhance professional standards and improve operational reliability. A key part of achieving this goal is better alignment between children's hours of stay and staff working hours. Officials hope that improved working conditions combined with new collective wage agreements will boost staffing levels, increase the percentage of certified staff in preschools and mostly prevent unexpected closures due to understaffing, which have created hardships for families.
Goal to align staff working hours and children's hours of stay at 38 hours
The goal is to largely align staff working hours and hours of stay within a 38-hour week. Contracted staff hours are currently 36 per week under collective wage agreements, and working hours will balance out if work requirements increase to 38 hours per week, offset by full days off around Christmas and New Year's, during the week leading up to Easter and during winter breaks. The proposals suggest that families decide each September which optional care days they plan to use during the school year.
Optional care days:
- All weekdays between Christmas and New Year's
- Days when primary schools have fall and winter breaks
- The week leading up to Easter
Each optional care day will cost 4,000 króna, and if no optional care days are used during the school year, tuition fees are completely waived in May.
New fee schedule based on income
The steering group proposes a new fee schedule that creates incentives to keep children's weekly hours of stay at 38 hours or less. The proposal also calls for one fee schedule instead of the previous two. Higher fees will apply for extended care, but parents' circumstances will be considered through income-based criteria. The new fee schedule includes a 25% discount on tuition if children are not registered after 2pm on Fridays, with preschool fees split between tuition and meal costs. The fee for each half-hour over 38 hours per week is 4,000 króna.
The proposals aim to organize early childhood education so that learning and most professional activities occur during 5-6 hours per day, with preschools fully staffed between 8am and 4pm Monday through Thursday and between 8am and 2pm on Fridays.
Extensive consultation ahead
As noted, these are proposals for a new approach to preschool operations that were presented to the City Executive Council today and approved for further review and consultation. The ideas were presented to preschool directors in mid-September, and tomorrow they will be sent to preschool parent councils, preschool directors and staff unions.
On Oct. 15, a Consultation Portal will open where parents, staff, administrators and other early childhood education advocates can submit feedback. The Consultation Portal will remain open for two weeks, until Oct. 29. When the Consultation Portal opens, a page on the Reykjavík City website will feature questions and answers about the proposals, plus a calculator where individuals can enter their information to see how the changes might affect them.