Johannes Learning Centre is Stavanger’s main vehicle for building language competence. Although originally all the staff were Norwegians, 40% are now of minority background. The school has developed from being only concerned with using and teaching Norwegian to bilingualism and multiligualism, with mixed staff. To achieve this they introduced a policy of hiring former students and appointing people with bilingual skills, wherever there was a need. As a consequence, the school has achieved much better results.
It seems like the leadership had the courage to go beyond that which the law required of them. For Johannes the winning formula seems to be: hire them and teach them; make them part of your functional network. It is said that nobody quits working from Johannes because it is such a good place to work.
