The research topic presented in this paper is due to an interest in the politics of the curriculum, especially those curricular issues that do not belong the traditional disciplines (intercurricular issues, interdisciplinary issues). These issues include gender equality, information and communication technology, democracy in education, environmental education, multicultural issues, global awareness, and so forth. The objective of the research presented in the paper is to explore how the importance of global awareness, action competence, multicultural and immigrant education, and education for sustainable development are presented in Icelandic school policy now at the beginning of the 21st century. Former research by the author and other researchers indicates that gender equality does not occupy much space, yet important space, in the curriculum documents (Guðbjörnsdóttir 2003a, b; Jóhannesson 2004a, b). Not much research has been done on these two issues as they appear in the official Icelandic school policy so far in Iceland (see, however, Árnason 1998, Ragnarsdóttir 2002, Macdonald & Bergmann 2005), and what has been studied and published has not especially focused on connections between the multiple intercurricular issues as is intended in this presentation. In the presention, it is looked at how education for sustainable development (ESD) and issues surrounding the dramatically increasing immigration to Iceland are being integrated or not integrated in the larger curriculum, especially at the early childhood and compulsory school levels (age range from 1 to 16). The importance of looking at these issues together is due to that they are at once global and local - global in the sense that both issues are global in character affecting most nations at once; local in the sense that they present themselves differently in the communities in Iceland. Further, these issues are both rather new in the Icelandic context, because although environmental education has beenavailable, there has been little emphasis placed on the term ESD.It is also important to observe how curricular issues that are the responsibility of ministries other than that of education, are taken or not taken into the school curricula. Sustainability issues belong to the ministry for the environment and various agencies in the municipalities that may or may not work closely with the schools; immigrant and multicultural issues belong to the ministries of justice and social services, as well as the ministry of education.The importance of this presentation in a European/international context pertains to being a one country study about issues global in character. The study is also connected to international debates, such as research about the impact of globalization on education (e.g., Carrington 2001), research about education for sustainable development (e.g., Rauch & Steiner 2006), the concept of action competence in modern democratic communities (e.g., Jensen og Schnack 1997), research about multicultural issues and coherence of the curriculum (e.g., Ladson-Billings 1994, 1995), and research about how to teach controversial issues (e.g., Oulton et al. 2004). The chief method was to study the formal school policy documents of Iceland's five largest municipalities where almost two thirds of the population live. They were asked what were their policy about ESD and immigrant/multicultural education. They all responded by contributing a formal school policy documents as well as specific school policy documents about either of the two topics, if such documents existed. In some instances, they provided a general policy about immigrants in that community, a policy that included what schools might or should do. Most communities also have one form or another of Local Agenda 21 that I consulted for information. As both issues were not much present in the 1999 curriculum for early childhood, primary, and secondary schools, the ministry of education was also asked to provide information about what would be integrated into the ongoing revision. The most important finding is that both issues, multicultural and immigrant education and ESD often are presented as non-political issues. This can be seen in that immigrant education has received a greater attention than sustainability issues in the school policy of the municipalities, but also in that language education is the most emphasized aspect of immigrant and multicultural education presented in the documents. We could say that is because language, food, and to some extent customs like clothing are "safe", non-political issues, while issues of cultural identity are not in such a safe area. We can especially see that in that religious education is not at all mentioned in the documents (although there is much debate elsewhere in the society about the role of the state Lutheran church). Sustainability issues are side-pushed, possibly because they have been in public discourse associated with radical environmental protection.There are a few and scarce attempts to deal with the participation of children in making decisions. There is quite a bit about identity, but in a depoliticized manner. There are minor attempts, especially in one of the local agenda documents, to connect global awareness issues to sustainability and immigration in the concept of the world-wide village.Surprisingly much, however, has been done in both areas, given the fact the writing a school policy for a municipality is an optional thing. This may be related to the fact that the municipalities took over the responsibility of the primary schools in 1996, and have been asserting their responsibility, as well as emphasizing that early childhood education is defined now (from 1994) as a school level rather than as a social service issue.There is a potential in these documents about how to deal with intercurricular issues in the way that could make the curriculum more coherent - but schools must know about what is expected of them to do so. School policy documents of the municipalities may or may not help the schools to gather the various clauses that are to be found in the document from the ministries for the environment (Welfare for the future 2002), justice, or social services, or such agencies within the local communities, documents that contain information, which, if taken seriously, have a curriculum stipulation status. Árnason, Þorvaldur. 1998. Umhverfismennt fyrir kennara, foreldra, stjórnendur, fagmenn og áhugafólk um umhverfismál. [Environmental education for teachers, parents, managers, professionals, and others interested in environmental issues.] Reykjanesbær: Aðstoð. Carrington, Victoria. 2001. Globalization, family and nation state: Reframing 'family' in new times. Discourse 22, 185-196. Guðbjörnsdóttir, Guðný. 2003a. Hugmyndir um kyngervi og jafnrétti í námskrám grunnskólans. [Ideas about gender and equality in the primary school curricula.] In Rannsóknir í félagsvísindum IV, félagsvísindadeild [Research in social science - conference proceedings.] (ed. Friðrik H. Jónsson), pp. 257-272. Reykjavík: Háskólaútgáfan. Guðbjörnsdóttir, Guðný. 2003b. Betur má ef duga skal: Námskrá framhaldsskólans í kynjafræðilegu ljósi. [We must do better. Curriculum of the secondary school in light of gender.] Uppeldi og menntun 12, 43-63. Jensen, Bjarne Bruun og Karsten Schnack. 1997. The action competence approach in environmental education. Environmental Education Research 3, 163-178. Jóhannesson, Ingólfur Ásgeir. 2004a. To teach boys and girls: A pro-feminist perspective on the boys' debate in Iceland. Educational Review 56, 33-42.Jóhannesson, Ingólfur Ásgeir. 2004b. Karlmennska og jafnréttisuppeldi. [Masculinity and gender equality pedagogy.] Reykjavík: The Centre for Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Iceland. Jóhannesson, Ingólfur Ásgeir. 2006a. Menntun og samfélag á tímum fjölmenningar og sjálfbærrar þróunar. [Education and society in times of multiculture and sustainable development.] Conference Presentation, University of Akureyri and other agencies, Akureyri, 29-30 September. http://www.ismennt.is/not/ingo/fjolsjalfak.htm Jóhannesson, Ingólfur Ásgeir, 2006b. Fjölmenning og sjálfbær þróun í menntastefnu ríkis og sveitarfélaga. [Multicultural issues and sustainable development in the school policy of the state and the municipalities.] Presentation at the 10th conference of the Iceland University of Education, Reykjavík, 20-21 October. http://www.ismennt.is/not/ingo/fjolsjalfkhi.htm Ladson-Billings, Gloria. 1994. The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African-American children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Ladson-Billings, Gloria. 1995. A coherent curriculum in an incoherent society? Pedagogical perspectives on curriculum reform. In Toward a coherent curriculum (ed. James E. Beane). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Macdonald, Allyson & Stefán Bergmann. 2005. Environmental education in Iceland: the curriculum and its implementation. Graduate Class Presentation, University of Manitoba, 20 October. Oulton, Chris, Justin Dillon og Marcus M. Grace. 2004. Reconceptualizing the teaching of controversial issues. International Journal of Science Education 26, 411?423. Ragnarsdóttir, Hafdís. 2002. Umhverfisstefna: Athugun á framkvæmd og viðhorfum í einum grunnskóla. [Environmental policy: Exploration of its implementation and opinions in one primary school.]. Masters' thesis at the University of Iceland. Rauch, Franz og Regina Steiner. 2006. School development through education for sustainable development in Austria. Environmental Education Research 12, 115-127. Welfare for the Future. Iceland's National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2002-2020. 2002. Reykjavík, ministry for the environment. The paper will be submitted to a national journal in Icelandic or English, perhaps another paper to an international journal.