Presentation used at the #2012waic Conference - Ghent, Belgium

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

2. Jakov og Bjørn
Bjørn)
Norway(
The(local(school:(AIB(
Buskerud(county(
Drammen city
Ingebjørg)

3. 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.

4. 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 Buskerud
• Age 16 – 24
• Continuous enrollment throughout the year

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. «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….

10. «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

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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 conversation
s on "all levels" in
the »Arbeidsinstituttet»

14. 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

15. 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?

16. 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?

17. 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

18. 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……

19. 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..

21. 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

22. History of «Arbeidsinstituttet»
! Is also a story of how ! Initiation
the profound of an organizational proce
ss in Buskerud County
changes in an
Council which
organization can have includes 2,400
ripple effects in an employees and 10,000
entire region, and may students ... (2011)
have influence on ! Initiation of a
a "nation" ... national center of
expertise, strength-based
work ... (2012)

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

24. 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

25. 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

26. ! 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

27. 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

28. 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..

29. ! 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

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

31. The youths comments after using AI-
method to make ICT-plan for AIB
I like to be negative for the
most, but it wasn t possible
today.
! We were really involved
! Everything was good
today.
! It wasn t them and us. It

32. 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….

33. 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.