Free digital subject portal from Bonnier Education supports students newly arrived to Sweden.
Some 50,000 kids of school age arrived in Sweden in 2015. Which has put huge demands on schools and teachers. To ease the way into both schools and Swedish society, Bonnier Education has launched a free digital subject portal for the growing number of prep courses for newly arrived students.
Many people have sought out a new life in Northern Europe, not least in Sweden, which has created a number of challenges. According to the Swedish National Agency for Education's analysis of the Swedish Migration Agency's statistics* some 71,000 children and teens arrived in Sweden during 2015, of which more than 50,000 are of school age.
The large number of kids has put pressure on Swedish schools and teachers. There is a big shortage of trained teachers of Swedish as a second language, and many schools are having difficulty meeting the needs of the newly arrived students.
Unique Possibilities With a Digital Format
Many teachers are fighting to find materials for the complex target audience that the newly arrived students represent, and that's exactly what Bonnier Education aims to help with, via a new subject portal.
"One of the biggest challenges in prep classes is the huge diversity among students when it comes to language ability and school background, and this is where a digital subject portal provides many advantages," says Angelica Hedin, chief editor at Bonnier Education.
"The portal provides unique opportunities to differentiate instruction compared with using traditional textbooks. With one click, you can have the same material presented in different levels of difficulty, have a text read aloud and use study guides in several languages. Furthermore, the portal is updated continually by Bonnier Education's editorial team of teachers, so the material is always up to date."
Welcome to Sweden!
"Clio Föreberedelseklass - Clio Prep Course - caters primarily to newly arrived students in grades four to nine as well as language introduction courses that prepare students for secondary schools. With help from texts on two different levels, study guides in different languages and interactive activities, students get opportunities to develop their Swedish language skills," says Hedin.
"The focus of the prep courses is to support students' language development, but also to give students insights into Swedish culture and knowledge of different school subjects. That's why the portal includes an introduction to Swedish society, Välkommen hit!, as well as texts and activities the give students the chance to develop their knowledge of different school subjects."
Free for Schools
Bonnier Education has developed Clio Förberedelseklass with support from Bonnier AB, which has a majority stake in the company.
"This is a shared task for Sweden, to give all children the foundation for succeeding in school," says Tomas Franzén, CEO for Bonnier AB. "We see that there is a huge challenge for both kids and teachers. And an opportunity for us to contribute something concrete to society. I'm personally extremely proud that we've developed the Clio Förberedelseklass that is being made available for free to all Swedish teachers."
Clio Förberedelseklass - Clio Prep Course - can be used free by teachers and students in Sweden's roughly 7,000 elementary and secondary schools. Already prior to launch, more than 600 teachers applied to test Clio Förberedelseklass. The new subject portal is available at www.clioonline.se/forberedelseklass.
Clio Förberedelseklass is funded under the Bonnier Social Impact program, an initiative for companies within Bonnier to receive financing by parent company Bonnier AB for projects that are closely linked to the business and have a clear social benefit.