Education policy in Iceland emphasises inclusive and comprehensive education for all and upper secondary schooling is open to all students of all ages throughout their life span. However, upper secondary schools set their own admission policies and select students for entry by academic performance and in the cases of the most selective schools, extra curriculum activities (Eiríksdóttir, Ragnarsdóttir, & Jónasson, 2018). This means that high status schools are selective. In addition, certain study programmes have higher status than others and within the same school different programmes can even have different admission requirements; creating further rankings for the students entering upper secondary education. For the last two decades, at least three reforms have been passed that have in part been aimed at changing the institutional structures governing the distribution of students. Nonetheless, none of those reforms seem to have fundamentally changed the institutional governing system of distributing students within the system. Increasingly marketised system and conservative societal pressure have been suggested as deciding factors (Ragnarsdóttir, 2018). Of particular interest here is the parity of esteem between grammar and comprehensive schools on one hand and general academic and vocational programmes on the other. Vocational programmes generally have lower status than academic programmes that prepare students for university education and are often seen as a path for academically weaker students. Traditionally comprehensive schools that include vocational programmes have lower status than schools that only offer academic programmes. Comprehensive schools also offer programmes for students who have not reached the entrance requirements for other study paths at the school and self-contained programmes for students with intellectual disabilities; grammar schools generally do not. The aim of the paper is to explore how institutional governing structure of school and programme selection perpetuate and reflect social inequalities. We will analyse systematic patterns in students’ school and programme choice based on their social and economic background, student engagement, academic performance, and future expectations. It builds on a longitudinal cohort study based on a questionnaire administered to all students at the end of compulsory education (10th grade) in the Reykjavik metropolitan area in 2014, and on official data collected on their progress at upper secondary level and standardized grades at the end of compulsory education (Blondal, Jónasson & Hafthorsson, 2019). Our preliminary analysis indicates that the registration system, in combination with marketisation, reinforces the academic elite when schools compete for students with high academic performance and social capacity.

Blondal, K.S., Jónasson, J.T., & Hafthorsson, A. (2019). Student disengagement in inclusive Icelandic education: A question of school effect in Reykjavík. In Demanet, J. & Van Houtte, M. (Eds.) Resisting education: A cross-national study on systems and school effects (pp. 117-133). London: Springer. Eiríksdóttir, E., Ragnarsdóttir, G., & Jónasson, J. T. (2018). Þversagnir og kerfisvillur? Kortlagning á ólíkri stöðu bóknáms- og starfsnámsbrauta á framhaldsskólastigi [On Parity of Esteem between Vocational and General Academic Programs in Upper Secondary Education in Iceland]. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun: Sérrit 2018 – Framhaldsskólinn í brennidepli [Netla – Online Journal on Pedagogy and Education]. University of Iceland, School of Education. Retrieved from http://netla.hi.is/serrit/2018/framhaldskolinn_brennidepli/07.pdf. Jónasson, J. T. (1998b). The foes of Icelandic vocational education at the upper secondary level. In A.Tjeldvoll (Ed.), Education and the Scandinavian welfare state in the year 2000: Equality, policy, and reform (pp. 267–302). New York: Garland. Ragnarsdóttir, G. (2018a). School leaders’ perceptions of contemporary change at the upper secondary school level in Iceland. Interaction of actors and social structures facilitating or constraining change (PhD), University of Iceland, Reykjavík.