Provisions and exemptions

In the National Curriculum Guide for Upper Secondary Schools – General Section 2004 – are regulations and provisions concerning the rights and responsibilities of students. The following provisions and exemptions are found in the National Curriculum Guide:

• Disabled students and students with reading disabilities (reading and writing disabilities) and/or other confirmed sensory disabilities may ask the school’s headmaster for exemption from individual courses, if the school believes that the student in question is unable to grasp the course materials as a result of specific disabilities that have been confirmed by a specialist in the relevant field. Students who are granted such an exemption should take other courses in lieu. Students are permitted to present various documents from their primary schools or specialists to support receiving the appropriate resources needed in the school that has admitted them.  


• Students may also apply to the headmaster for exemptions from a particular subject if their learning disabilities render them unable to grasp the course materials despite repeated attempts and assistance provided by the school. Such learning disabilities must be confirmed by a specialist in the relevant field. Students who are granted such exemptions should take other subjects in lieu and the exemption should be noted on their diploma. 


• Students whose mother tongue is not Icelandic, and Icelandic students who have spent long periods overseas and therefore have limited understanding of terms and concepts even though they speak every day Icelandic fairly well, may apply to study Icelandic according to a special curriculum designed for those students. The same applies to deaf students. Schools have extensive power to offer solutions to the individual needs of these students. 


• Students who have resided outside the Nordic countries can apply to study a language in lieu of one of the Nordic languages.


• Students who have been granted an exemption from studying a Nordic language in compulsory school can also be granted such an exemption in upper secondary school. In such cases, they are required take another subject in lieu and the exemption should be noted on their diploma.


• Before an exemption is granted, the headmaster should inform the student in question that the exemption might affect his or her study opportunities at the higher education level, or the opportunity for work in a specific field if the study programme is a vocational one.


• Exceptional athletes should be accommodated in such a way as to allow their school absences as a result of games and/or training for the national team to be overlooked when calculating a grade for school attendance.


• Students who parallel to their studies in an upper secondary school are engaged in extensive physical training under the auspices of a special sports association and/or athletics association with a trained coach, athletics instructor or teacher, can apply to the headmaster to be exempt from specific courses or parts of courses in athletics or physical education.