Creating self-efficacy in youth
Who: Stiftelsen Akvariet i Bergen
What: Creating self-efficacy in youth
Where: Bergen, Norway
Project period: 2025
About the project
Bergen Aquarium will though this project provide a unique opportunity for children who for one reason or another is not able to cope in an ordinary school environment. Through our cooperation with Grieg Bergen Aquarium will be able to employ a person who will head up this initiative and do the preparations so that the programme will be ready for students from August 2025. Our target group will be students from the fifth to tenth grade.
We will find localities on the Aquarium where students in small groups will learn about animal husbandry, animal welfare and teamwork. Providing young people with the tools and the practical knowledge of how to care for animals you will nourish self-efficacy and build confidence and resilience. The development of this programme will be done in cooperation with competent resources who have already succeeded creating such programmes elsewhere.
Purpose and responsibility under controlled, yet exiting, circumstances is the key to engage youths through practical skills which they can and will master. Figuring things out together in small groups will make it possible for the programme leads to tailor challenges and activities to every group and every student and ensuring excellent opportunities for each student to succeed.
Our goal is to develop a programme that will underline the importance of early action. Not everyone is suited for school, but everyone wants to learn. Bergen Aquarium strongly believe that our facilities and our animals creates a perfect framing for such a programme. Where success is measured in confidence and self-efficacy.
About the organisation
The Aquarium is Norway's largest and one of Bergen's most visited tourist attractions with 220 000 visitors annualy. We are 45 employees.
Our vision is to inspire a desire to learn about life underwater. You can learn about the ocean by reading a book or in school, but nothing beats experiencing life underwater first hand. The aquarium has been an institution in Bergen since 1960 and is organized as a foundation.
Norwegian marine fauna is one of our most important industries. It is part of a sensitive, global ecosystem and deeply fascinating. Society has everything to gain from our visitors understanding the connections between what is found off the tip of Nordnes and the ocean at large. Sharing knowledge about the ocean was the reason for establishing the Aquarium in Bergen. This never changes. Now we have animals from other parts of the world as well. This gives our visitors a greater experience of diversity and coherence. When you visit the Aquarium, you will leave with an experience of a lifetime, a little wiser and with a strong desire to learn more.
