Helping more children to crack the reading code
Children’s first year at school can lay the foundation for years of achievement or for years of defeat. Difficulties with reading and writing can create exclusion that has consequences right into adulthood.
iMAL has developed a digital teaching aid and associated methodology intended to help all pupils to make progress with the alphabet, reading and writing from their very first day at school. The company’s objective is to make the start of school inclusive and at the same time prevent future difficulties with reading and writing. It helps make children secure and quickly integrated into their school’s academic and social community.
Difficulties with reading and writing can be prevented
Statistics show that 7.2% of pupils in the fifth grade did not take part in the national reading tests in 2019. The children concerned were assessed to have such weak reading skills that they would not be able to complete the national reading test. The number of pupils for which this is the case has been increasing in recent years. In addition, over 20% of pupils who did take part scored in the lowest possible range. This group includes many pupils with unrealised potential to develop better reading skills.
iMAL’s digital solution can be used by teachers, pupils and families and does not stigmatise individual pupils. The teaching aid is also suitable for use with people who do not have Norwegian as their first language and is continually improved and developed. Several hundred teachers have completed the iMAL course, and the teaching aid is used by 500 schools in Norway. In addition, iMAL has received feedback that indicates that the method is very suitable for children and adults who are not native speakers of Norwegian and who did not learn to read in their own mother tongue. iMAL was also launched in Sweden in 2020.