Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir

Sigrún has received several acknowledgements for her academic work, including one from the University of Iceland in 2004 for her “contribution to research”. In 2005 “The Together Group” recognised her for her “good theoretical work and useful research for the benefit of parents and children”. The group is an association of many municipalities, associations and institutions that work together to enhance the welfare of children and adolescents. In addition, in 2012 she received the Icelandic Order of the Falcon Cross for her contribution to Educational Science.

In 1989, Sigrún became an assistant professor in education at the University of Iceland, within the Faculty of Social Sciences and an associate professor the same year. She became a professor in education on 1 January 1994.

From 1970 to 1976, Sigrún was an elementary school teacher in Reykjavik and in 1976-77 in the Westman Islands. From 1973 to 1983, she designed a curriculum and course materials in social studies for elementary schools under the auspices of the Ministry of Education in the Department of School Research and Development. Professor Wolfgang Edelstein led the social studies group's revision of the curriculum. This work also entailed working with teachers and principals around the country as a part of a school-based continuing education program.

Sigrún received a teacher’s certificate from the Iceland College of Education in 1969. In 1983 she completed a BA in Education at the University of Iceland, in the Faculty of Social Sciences. Then, in the United States, she earned both a master’s degree (1984) and a doctorate (1988) from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education in the Department of Human Development and Psychology. There she studied with professors Robert L. Selman and Lawrence Kohlberg.

Sigrún Aðalbjarnardóttir (born 9 July 1949) is a professor emeritus at the University of Iceland, School of Education (as of 1 August 2019). Most of her theoretical work is within educational science and developmental psychology with a focus on the welfare of young people. Her primary interest is the social development, risk behaviour, academic engagement, and well-being of children and young people, as well as their civic awareness and engagement. A related focus is on how parents and teachers can foster the development and welfare of children and adolescents.

Sigrún’s second project, “Teachers' and school administrators' educational vision”, sprang out of the school development project. To strengthen teachers in their work with their students, she explored how the teachers developed in their teaching as they participated in the project and reflected on their work. Using a life story approach, she elicited their educational vision by directing attention to their values, aims, and teaching methods, as well as how they felt their life story had an impact on their educational vision. In the book Respect and Care: The Call of the 21st Century (Virðing og umhyggja: Ákall 21. aldar), Sigrún reports on this research and the school development projects that took place over several years.