One In Five Icelandic Preschool Staff Are Foreign-Born

New data from Statistics Iceland reveals a notable increase in the diversity of Iceland’s preschool workforce, with foreign-born employees now making up over 21% of the staff. This is a significant rise from 15.5% in 2020.

Among those directly involved in children’s education and care, foreign-born workers represent 23.3%. This report is the first of its kind to provide detailed insights into the backgrounds of preschool staff. However, these figures do not include managerial roles.

In non-educational roles within preschools, such as food service and cleaning, the proportion of foreign-born employees is even higher, reaching 53%.

The report also highlights educational qualifications within the sector. Only 27.4% of educational staff are certified preschool teachers, while over half — 53.6% — have secondary school-level education or less.