www.co-op.ac.uk school co-operatives and co-operative schools experience from the uk

www.co-op.ac.ukwww.youngco-operatives.coop


School co-operatives and School co-operatives and co-operative schoolsco-operative schools

School co-operatives and School co-operatives and co-operative schoolsco-operative schools

Experience from the UK



Julie ThorpeJulie Thorpe

Head of School and Youth Programmes

Co-operative College, UK



Co-operatives in the UKCo-operatives in the UK

The current context:• Co-operative renaissance

led by the Co-operative Group – Membership– Turnover– Brand with strong emphasis

on values,for example Fairtrade, green energy

– Appeal of ethically-driven business in current financial climate

– The revolution



Co-operatives in the UKCo-operatives in the UK

• The current context:– Coalition government’s ‘Big Society’

“A co-op has a flexibility and dynamism that a

central state agency lacks. Like the Rochdale

Pioneers, a co-op is part of the community it

serves. Its interests are their interests. And it is

able to respond to the needs of the community

immediately and directly.”

- David Cameron



Co-operative CollegeCo-operative College

• Established 1919• Training members and

managers• Looking after our

heritage

• International work• Research • Schools and young

people



Why we work with schoolsWhy we work with schools

• “I asked them if they could tell me how many wives Henry VIII had and what were their names. The majority of boys in the class could answer that question straight away, but when I asked if they could tell me who was Robert Owen and when he was born, or on what day the British co-operative movement was founded, they could not give me any answer.”

A V Alexander



Enterprise NetworkEnterprise Network

• Funding

• Access to 20,000+ state primary and secondary schools



Young Co-operativesYoung Co-operatives

Website AccreditationFree resources Three models



FairtradeFairtrade

• Provides many curriculum links• Appeals to young people’s sense of fairness• Raises questions of ethics in the supply chain• Adds a global dimension



GreenfingersGreenfingers

• Horticulture and food production



ReconRecon

• Waste management and recycling projects



AccreditationAccreditation

• Programmes with skills-based awarding body– Stepping Stones– Key Steps– Enterprise Award– Certificate of

Personal Effectiveness



Values-driven schoolsValues-driven schools

• Co-operative whole-school ethos• Deeply embedded values• Raising standards



Schools as co-operativesSchools as co-operatives

• 1 to 100 in two years• the multi-stakeholder

trust model• Embedding in the

community• Linking to values in

the curriculum and governance



Schools Co-operative SocietySchools Co-operative Society

• Services to co-operative schools

• Joint procurement• A voice in the policy

debate

A Co-operative Trust School

• 11-16 Co-educational school

• Oldham Local Authority school

• Specialist Sports College• 1500 students on roll• 89 teaching and 68 non-

teaching staff• Private Finance Initiative

funded building (3yrs old).• Improved results for each

of last six consecutive years.



Ethical Enterprise ChallengeEthical Enterprise Challenge



Schools as co-operativesSchools as co-operatives

Case study: Failsworth School

• Oldham MBC were reorganising the schools, and it was likely a number of academies would be set up.

• Those schools would have power over admissions – but we wouldn’t.

• As a form of protection, the school worked to gain Trust status.

• The chosen Trust route was through the co-operative society.

• Oldham now has three academies. • Failsworth School has a new head teacher.• The Government has put in austerity packages across all

of local Government to save money/cut spending.• Oldham was already in huge debt, but also has additional

savings to make.• The LA is charging more for its services to schools.• Education in the UK is in a state of flux/transition, as the

local government support is taken away.• Many new companies are appearing – to provide services

at a big cost, but no certainty of quality.

• Failsworth School works closely with its feeder and other local Primary schools.

• This joint-work has increased under the new Head at Failsworth.

• It is built around co-operative values and principles.• The Failsworth Co-operative Trust – which includes that

joint work – will have to grow to be self-supporting.• The old work of the Local Authority will be taken up by

the FCT to bond together our strengths and have greater buying power to support improvement and provision.

• We are a not-for-profit organisation, supporting our community whilst looking outwards beyond Failsworth to raise aspirations.

• The Local Authority.• The Co-operative Group.• Oldham Sixth Form College.

• We are confident our local Primaries will join us formally as individuals or as a group.

• We want to increase this to reflect the whole community through the Stakeholder Forum.

• The Trust is essentially still a blank canvas – but we are beginning to doodle on it!

• We are working on transitional curriculums – 5 – 11 – 16 – 19.

• We will be appointing a Family Liaison/ Attendance officer to work across the Trust schools.

• We will be working with a local University to accredit and deliver training programmes for staff.

• We will be looking to buy cheaper energy/ phones/ supplies because of being a bigger buying group.

• We are looking to appoint our own Educational Psychologist to work across the schools.

• We are offering budget support to our local primaries as part of our joint working.



International linkingInternational linking

• Lesotho• South Africa• Europe



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www.co-op.ac.uk

www.youngco-operatives.coop

www.co-op.ac.uk school co-operatives and co-operative schools experience from the uk

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