Insight into the inner workings of a newspaper gives students a new approach towards sources.
Writing, taking photos, doing layout and learning how to vet sources is what students learn when KP Newspaper School comes to visit. The school is an initiative of Kamratposten (KP), Sweden's venerable newspaper for kids, and Editor-in-Chief Lukas Björkman says everyone who reads newspapers has something to gain from learning about how a newspaper is made, and the goal of the school is that KP inspires school classes to start their own newspapers.
"KP Newspaper School is a service that schools can buy," says Björkman. "What you get for the money is one to two days of newspaper education, both theoretical and practical, for the classroom. The goal is that it should end up with the students starting up a school paper. All students who take part get a KP newspaper and a KPress card that certifies they've taken the class.
The students learn as much as possible about how to make a newspaper, including text, photos and illustrations, layout and design, vetting sources and much more. So far, the course has been popular with schools and Björkman says he expects a boom in the fall, when schools will have new budgets to work with.
"We want to be out in schools more," says Björkman about KP's goals for the course. "And we hope that those who have taken part in the course finish the school day with a smile on their lips and new knowledge in their minds."
The press cards that students get once they finish the course are more than just something a little extra that KP provides. "I remember when I was a kid my friends and I liked getting this kind of proof thatwe've taken a course, and I doubt things have changed since then," says Björkman. "I remember that I kept the driver's license that I got at Legoland's driver's school for a long time after!"
Read more about how KP Newspaper School works. Or about how the course went at the Benzelius School in Luleå, or look at the newspapers created during the course. (Links in Swedish)