Working with Youth at Risk (Ingebjorg Maeland)

Welcome Working with youth at risk – report from av Norwegian school working with an Appreciative Inquiry

Drammen city

Buskerud(county(

Norway(

Ingebjørg)

Bjørn)

The(local(school:(AIB(

Jakov og Bjørn

Short about: !  The Organization AIB !  Our continuous development project More about: !  Appreciative Student talks Different strengthbased methods

Example: Roadmap, Strengths Card, Responsecard, Tree-method

Encouraging student conversations and career counselling, enabling the students to make better choices in their lives and education.

What is the Arbeidsinstitutt Buskerud? A cooperation between Buskerud county, and the host municipality. Some funding from Government and Foundation of Crownprince couple

• Drammen • Kongsberg • Midtfylket • Ringerike • 170 students • Age 16 – 24

• Continuous enrollment throughout the year

Buskerud

Target group !  Don`t wish to enrol secondary education !  Don`t know what they want to study or

which job they want to apply for !  Motivation, preparation, clarification for high

school and work

!  Need continued education in Norwegian, Maths, English etc !  Struggle with small or big youth issues/challenges !  AIB strength base

!  Have the need to be seen, heard and understood, appreciated and respected

!  It is youth with bundles of energy and resources

Vocational training workshop with relevance and documentation from parts of national curriculum

!  Mechanics, carpentry, café/kitchen, sales and service, IT, design, social care, academic workshop (literacy/numeracy) Production for sale or own use

Development work in AIB Why AI- process?

!  Provide all employees with a �common language� make it possible to reflect together.

!  To be able to put words to

unconscious skills and knowledge.

!  Create a learning/living

organisation/community. Tools adapted to our

organisations way of thinking where mastery is given priority.

Which culture do we want in AIB?

!  Wish to increase security in work and

learning environment.

!  Wish to support each other and encourage each other to be better and better every day.

!  Encourage a culture with room for learning from our mistakes, but..

!  where we are also allowed to express

what we have succeeded with and reflect over why we succeeded.

!  Where the youth are REALLY involved.

«We want more love in the streets, a warmer and more open society for all

!  Imagine we all were a bit «in love» with each other….

«Arbeidsinstituttet» the short history

!  Ongoing development work with AI started March 2005 Coach/guide – Bjørn

!  All staff was asked/invited

to take part in a process for designing a educational platform that could embrace and enable the highest potential of both the organization and the people

We started the work by asking ourselves:

What do we see and how do we feel when students are truly involved in their own lives - in their career planning and work towards achieving their goals?

What are the talks like when we see that motivation is improving? What have we done then? What gave the power for this to happen - what were the success factors? The result from the research

2006-2008: Book on Appreciative student-talks

The King and Queen invited 200 youths from the four projects that the Crown Prince foundation cooperates with, to a Christmas concert in the Royal Palace 2011.

Individual Road map

!  Roadmap is a tool that has been used in AI processes at the organizational level

!  Is now adapted, developed and used in relational conversations on "all levels" in the »Arbeidsinstituttet»

Road-map as career plan Dialogue about your dream

!  If the youth have an idea how a good life can be,-how it looks and feels, it can be easier to know what kind of life and job they want. And then they will be more motivated to learn too. Inner motivation. How we ask – thats important

You can never ask too much I really want to get to known with and to talk about your education, life what you want... I really want to know if you have some thoughts about how your life will be in about 3 – 5 years? Maybe you already have some dreams or wishes? Where do you think you are living?

Do you still live in your parents house? Do you live alone or together with friends? Please tell me how your apartment is inside? Who is paying the bills and the apartment? What are you doing in your free time?

Your first step to reach your goal Concrete examples using Tree method !  Problem: High level of

absence !  Describe a morning

when you came in time for class? (mental turn around)

!  Listen to the story and appreciate

!  Be open-minded, not moralising

!  Ask investigative questions

The life-giving factors are described in the roots !  What�s the main reason it turned

out well?

!  What made you succeed? !  Did you do something more? !  Tell me…

!  What did you contribute with? !  Did anyone else contribute? !  What did they do? !  Tell us more about it…

!  That`s interesting…tell more..

!  Ask and ask……

!  The Norvegian minister of education visit AIB Febr.09

To find and use the strengths Six such moral goals are identified: Wisdom, Will, Humanity, Justise, Moderation, transcendence (The meaning within a bigger context) (Seligman) !  Cards of strengths !  We find unconscious

skills and knowledge in the stories.

!  Focus on the positive (mental turnaround)

!  What gives life to successes

!  What made it happen? Tell me more about it..

Visual Road maps Eeasy to follow for all learners

!  Use time to create the dream !  The first step you take – what do you

think is the most important first step?

!  How can I and others support you?

!  Celebrations !  Goals and dreams can be

changed during the travel Take care of dreams and hope

History of «Arbeidsinstituttet»

!  Is also a story of how the profound changes in an organization can have ripple effects in an entire region, and may have influence on a "nation" ...

!  Initiation of an organizational process in Buskerud County Council which includes 2,400 employees and 10,000 students ... (2011)

!  Initiation of a national center of expertise, strength-based work ... (2012)

«Før var jeg en sinnatagg, nå vil jeg lære alt hele tida» Cecile

Earlier our Primeminister came to AIB and visited us…

Now we think one day PM w the PM will come from AIB

Thank you very much for listening

RESPONSE CARDS

!  Include instructions for preparing oral presentations

!  Include criteria for successful presentations !  Help identify and map your own and others’

speaking skills !  Raise awareness on the importance of these

skills !  Provide inspiration for further practice and

exercises

!  Raise awareness of the importance of speaker-listener interaction

!  Create a positive learning environment that fosters confidence and social inclusion

!  Foster effective learning results Speaking skills, The role of the speaker Respectful feedback

The dream of a digital AIB 8 des.AIB�s development group at seminar in hotel Involving Dialogue Competance Energy Motivation Creativity To learn Reflection

Teachers and students interview each other, both telling success stories about using ICT

Guide with questions � Not allowed to ask �Why�!!!! Tell more… What did you do then? How was it? What make you like it? What happend next? Tell more about it..

!  How will it be if we do this all the time?

!  What will be

different in AIB then?

!  What can

we see…. !  Mental

pictures creates

!  Road-map – the first step I want to take

The youths comments after using AI- method to make ICT-plan for AIB

!  We were really involved !  Everything was good

today. !  It wasn�t them and us. It

was only us together.

I like to be negative for the most, but it wasn�t possible today.

And what did the staff tell about the day???

�Youths came like students but went home as member of the staff.

If every day could be like this one….�

We have just started….

!  We have a long way to go….

!  How wonderful,- that means a lot of fun. We can use our energy to meet challenges and do deep learning in a living community.