The Educational Policy “Let Our Dreams Come True” was launched November 20^th 2018 (City of Reykjavík, Department of Education and Youth, 2019). The implementation started 2019 supported by action plans launched every three years (Department of Education and Youth, 2019a, 2022). The Policy emphasizes that education of children and adolescents is a societal project taking place formally and informally in collaboration with parents and the community.  The policy centres around the child and is rooted in the principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international and national key documents. Its mission is to encourage democratic participation of children and youth while supporting professional development. The Department of Education and Youth in Reykjavík (DEY) is responsible for the education of 22.000 children 0-16 years of age. Nearly six thousand teachers, leaders, principals, and staff work in the city’s educational sector in preschools, compulsory schools, leisure centres, school music bands and among professionals providing support and guidance.

A steering committee involving politicians, representatives for the Department of Education along with Icelandic and international advisory experts led by Dr. Pasi Sahlberg (Sahlberg, 2021) were champions for the work of developing the policy. Nearly 10,000 citizens, children and adults participated in responding to the question “what skills do we want our education system to have provided our children by 2030?” (Centre for Public Impact, 2019). Five foundational competency domains were identified. Those are: social skills, self-empowerment, literacy, creativity, and health.

The Centre for Innovation in Education, based within the DEY, was established, and is leading a comprehensive implementation of the policy (Department of Education and Youth, 2019b, 2020, 2021). Other initiatives involve development and innovation fund where all schools and leisure centres get yearly funding to implement projects based on the policy (Jónsdóttir & Ágústsson, 2021). Collaboration with the School of Education at the University of Iceland was enhanced around professional development, learning communities were created where leaders and teachers share their experience and knowledge, and professional support is provided to teachers and staff. One of the objectives of the policy is to provide children with dynamic educational experiences allowing them to fulfil their dreams and have a positive impact on society and the environment. To achieve this goal, the policy's implementation emphasizes the integration of new technology and diverse learning methods. Centre for Creativity and Educational Technology at the DEY, is responsible for implementing new and creative technology in formal and informal education (Jónsdóttir et al., 2021).

In January 2022 the parliament of Iceland approved a new act on Integrating Services in the Interest of Children’s Prosperity (Government of Iceland, Ministry of Social Affairs, n.d.). For the first time in Iceland, services in the interest of children’s prosperity are divided into three stages, primary, secondary, and tertiary level. The educational sector is defined as a part of the primary level providing formal and informal education and early intervention based on the educational policy. The primary level receives support from the secondary and tertiary level for individual children and their family’s involving assessment of children’s needs and systematic follow up based on a support plan that sometimes requires specialized assistance from the tertiary level. All four neighbourhoods in the city have launched the new act on prosperity by developing a comprehensive and systematic collaboration between the three stages through the project; Better City for Children: School Support Services (Better City for Children).To weave all these three interventions together the DEY is hosting Social Innovation Labs with representatives from schools and leisure where participants design projects aiming at improving education and prosperity for all children in Reykjavík.

In order to evaluate the impact and reflect on the implementation of the Reykjavík Education Policy, a mixed-methods approach is used (Mælikvarðar menntastefnu Reykjavíkur). A survey was conducted with leaders in schools and leisure centres to assess their perception of the policy's impact on children's education. Different metrics are being developed and implemented to examine the academic and social impact of formal and informal education in the city. It is assumed that the emphasis on which metrics are the most important at each point in time will change somewhat until the year 2030. The guiding light of the education policy gives an insight into what needs to be emphasized to reap progress in the five fundamental elements and the future vision of making children's dreams come true. It is therefore important to look both at the scale of what is contributed and likely to yield benefits as well as the benefits we see in the academic success and wellbeing or overall prosperity. Every year the DEY publishes an implementation report that presents multiple stories of all the different projects, initiatives and practices documented in the collaborative process of transforming formal and informal education for children in the city (Department of Education and Youth, 2019b, 2020, 2021). A webpage was launched in 2019 that hosts all information about the implementation, offers a toolbox that is a collective creation of teachers and staff in schools and leisure, presents offers for professional development and highlights all the developmental and innovation projects in schools and leisure, up to 200 per year (Menntastefna Reykjavíkurborgar). A series of Social Innovation Labs based on our collaboration with Penelope Stiles and her team from Edmonton Public School District in Alberta (Department of Education and Youth, 2019c) are being used to create critical reflection among stakeholders regarding the educational interventions discussed in the abstract above. The labs are carefully documented, and the resources designed by the participants used as concrete examples of the way schools and leisure centres visualize and cocreate their role in weaving together goals and missions of the Educational policy, the act on Prosperity and the Better City for Children.

The Reykjavík Education Policy has been a successful implementation in the city and has had a positive impact on the education of children and adolescents as well as the professionalism of leaders, teachers and staff in schools and leisure. In Iceland like everywhere in the world, Covid19 had negative effect on school personnel and the wellbeing of the children in the city (Gestsdóttir et al., 2020). During the pandemic the main goal was to guarantee as much as possible the uninterrupted education of children in Iceland. In Reykjavík schools stayed open and teachers and staff reached out and provided children with education, wellbeing, and care during the whole time (Jónsdóttir, 2020; Sigurðardóttir & Mörk, 2020). Nevertheless, it is clear that children and teens in Reykjavík have been struggling during the pandemic due to restrictions and measures being taken to protect citizens from harm. More children are waiting for services than before and emotional problems such as anxiety, loneliness and depression among children are a threat (Mælikvarðar menntastefnu Reykjavíkur). The war in Ukraine, riots and difficulties in many other countries are influencing the number of refugees seeking asylum in Iceland and for the past year Reykjavík’s schools are welcoming more refugee children than ever before. By implementing comprehensive educational policy and projects aiming at the overall prosperity, inclusion and equity for all children the educational sector in Reykjavík is being responsible for meeting the challenges of a world characterised by rapid societal and technological changes that transform children’s educational upbringing as well as traditional ideas of learning.

Better City for Children. https://reykjavik.is/en/a-better-city-for-children Centre for Public Impact. (2019). Crowdsourcing Better Education Policy in Reykjavik. https://www.centreforpublicimpact.org/case-study/crowdsourcing-better-education-policy-reykjavik City of Reykjavík, Department of Education and Youth. (2019). Reykjavik Education Policy 2030. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/menntastefna_rvk_ens_web.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2019a). Menntastefna Reykjavíkur – Almennar aðgerðir 2019-2021. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Almennar-adgerdir-2019-2021.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2019b). Menntastefna Reykjavíkur til 2030 – Staða innleiðingar. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Menntastefna-Reykjavikur_stoduskyrsla-innleidingar-jun-des2019.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2019c). Letting Our Dreams Come True. (Re)Imagining Together - A Social Innovation Action Lab. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Reykjavik-Action-Lab-Report_Final.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2020). Menntastefna Reykjavíkur til 2030 – Staða innleiðingar. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Loka-Menntastefna-Reykjavikur_stoduskyrsla-05.02.21.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2021). Menntastefna Reykjavíkur til 2030 – Helstu vörður innleiðingar 2021. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Skyrsla-um-stodu-innleidingar-fyrir-arid-2021.pdf Department of Education and Youth. (2022). Innleiðing Menntastefnu Reykjavíkur “Látum draumana rætast”. Almennar aðgerðir 2022-2024. https://menntastefna.is/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Almennar-adgerdir-menntastefnu-Reykjavikur-2022-2024.pdf Menntastefna Reykjavíkurborgar. https://menntastefna.is/ Mælikvarðar Menntastefnu Reykjavíkur. https://menntastefna.is/gaedastarf/maelikvardar/ Gestsdóttir, S. M. et al. 2020. Fjarkennsla í faraldri: Nám og kennsla í framhaldsskólum á tímum samkomubanns vegna COVID-19 19 Upper secondary education in Iceland during the COVID-19 pandemic. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun. Sérrit um COVID-19 og menntakerfið. https://doi.org/10.24270/serritnetla.2020.25 Government of Iceland, Ministry of Social Affairs. (n.d.). Integration of Services in the Interest of Children’s Prosperity. https://www.bvs.is/media/almenningur/samthaetting_tjonustu_handout_ens_v4.pdf Jónsdóttir, F.B., Ágústsson, H. (2021). Þróun og nýsköpun í skóla- og frístundastarfi Reykjavíkurborgar. Skólaþræðir. https://skolathraedir.is/tag/frida-bjarney-jonsdottir/ Jónsdóttir, Svanborg, R., Kjartansdóttir, S.H., Jónsdóttir, S., Pétursdóttir, S, Hjartarson, T. (2021). Sköpunar- og tæknismiðjur í þremur grunnskólum: Framkvæmd og kennslufræði fyrstu skrefin. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun. https://netla.hi.is/greinar/2021/rynd/09.pdf Jónsdóttir, K. (2020). Tengslin við heimilin trosnuðu merkilega lítið í fyrstu bylgju COVID-19: Sjónarhorn stjórnenda og grunnskólakennara. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun. Sérrit um COVID-19 og menntakerfið. https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3323 Sahlberg, P (2021). Let our dreams come true – A tribute to Iceland. https://pasisahlberg.com/let-our-dreams-come-true-a-tribute-to-iceland/ Sigurðardóttir, I.Ó., Mörk, S.B. (2020). Kófið og leikskólinn: „Þetta var mögnuð „tilraun“ til að sjá gæðastarf verða til við skrítnar aðstæður“. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun. Sérrit um COVID-19 og menntakerfið. https://ojs.hi.is/netla/article/view/3321