Parent rights and duties in Iceland are defined in laws from 2008 on preschool, compulsory school, and secondary school, and in respective national curriculums. In these documents parents are recognised as main stakeholders in schools and given possibilities to have influence on school policy and practices in compulsory education of children and youth.

The aim of this paper is to explore parent visibility in new official documents on education policy in Iceland; Education Policy 2030 approved by the parliament in March 2021, and its First action plan 2021-2024 published by Ministry of Education and Children in September the same year. The new documents reflect changes in society and school development since 2008 as well as political emphasis and strategies the government wants to move forward.

The research questions posed here is: Are parents present in the new educational policy documents? How is parents’ role defined, as an important one or are parents marginalised?

Theoretical framework includes writings on home-school relations, parent empowerment and parent engagement.  There is a confusion in use of the concepts and research has shown that different stakeholder groups understand them in different ways (Goodall and Montgomery, 2014).  This confusion can also affect stakeholders’ opinions or interfere with the interpretation of their views. For example, there is a discrepancy in what parents, teachers and school leaders feel about parental engagement, according to Education for All in Iceland: External Audit of the Icelandic System for Inclusive Education (2017).

On the other hand, the paper refers to policy analysis. The OECD has evaluated these policy documents and describes it with positive terms, “Iceland’s Education Policy 2030 is an education strategy document that outlines aims to achieve a dynamic and flexible education system to drive economic and social change. Its vision is ‘to accomplish high-quality education through life’, underpinned by the values of resilience, courage, knowledge and happiness”. The report brings forth comments on how to strengthen the implementation with a clearer strategy and concludes that if that will be done “Iceland will be better positioned to transition from strategy to action, over the course of the next ten years, and accomplish its objectives” (OECD, 2021).

The paper builds on an analysis of official documents and the related discourse tangible in for example newspaper articles and announcements regarding educational policy during the last years. Participants in a discourse, professionals, researchers as well as the public, produce and reproduce it with their conscious and unconscious practices and exclamations (Sverrisdóttir and Jóhannesson, 2020). In the analysis of the documents special attention is drawn to contradictions, and the argumentation for parents’ role and presence.

First findings indicate that parent role is not much elaborated in the new policy documents, and parent visibility or presence is less than expected with reference to common statements about the importance of parents´ engagement in children’s education. Even so, parents’ role is an interesting one and worth discussing. The paper contributes to discussion about parent engagement and home-school relations in the Nordic countries, and on parents’ position within the Nordic educational systems.

Anna Björk Sverrisdóttir & Ingólfur Ásgeir Jóhannesson. (2020). Medical approach and ableism versus a human rights vision: discourse analysis of upper secondary education policy documents in Iceland, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24:1, 33-49, DOI: 10.1080/13603116.2018.1449905 Education for All in Iceland: External Audit of the Icelandic System for Inclusive Education. (2017). Mennta- og menningarmálaráðuneyti. Retrieved 14.11.2022 at https://www.stjornarradid.is/media/menntamalaraduneyti-media/media/frettatengt2016/Final-report_External-Audit-of-the-Icelandic-System-for-Inclusive-Education.pdf Janet Goodall & Caroline Montgomery. (2014). Parental involvement to parental engagement: a continuum, Educational Review, 66:4, 399-410, DOI: 10.1080/00131911.2013.781576 Ný menntastefna 2030. (2021). (Education Policy 2030). Retrieved 14.11.2022 at https://www.althingi.is/altext/151/s/1111.html Ný menntastefna 2030: Fyrsta aðgerðaáætlun 2021-2024. (Education Policy 2030: First action plan 2021-2024). (2021). Retrieved 14.11.2022 at https://www.stjornarradid.is/library/01--Frettatengt---myndir-og-skrar/MRN/Menntastefna_2030_fyrsta%20adgerdar%c3%a1%c3%a6tlun.pdf OECD (2021), "Iceland Education Policy 2030 and its implementation", OECD Education Policy Perspectives, No. 32, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6e9d2811-en