SPREADING SOCIAL INNOVATION: CO-OPERATIVE SCHOOLS Learning Together: Perspectives in Co-operative Education 9 December 2014 Anna Davies, The Young Foundation.

SPREADING SOCIAL INNOVATION: CO-OPERATIVE SCHOOLS

Learning Together: Perspectives in Co-operative Education

9 December 2014

Anna Davies, The Young Foundation

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SOCIAL INNOVATION

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SOCIAL INNOVATION

• ideas, turned into practical approaches

• new in the context where they appear

• aim to provide better coping strategies and solutions to social problems

• marked by uncertainty and risk

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SPREADING INNOVATION – SCALING UP

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SPREADING INNOVATION – DIFFUSION

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CASE STUDY OF CO-OPERATIVE TRUST SCHOOL

Schools that have:• Changed legal status to establish

trust• Embedded co-operative values

across curriculum, processes and learning

• Governance model that engages parents, staff pupils & local community through membership

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CASE STUDY OF CO-OPERATIVE SCHOOL GROWTH

2009: 36

2014: >700

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WHY HAVE WE SEEN RAPID GROWTH IN THE

SPREAD OF THIS SCHOOL STRUCTURE IN THE LAST

5 YEARS?

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1. INTRINSIC APPEAL OF THE MODEL

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• Reflecting existing beliefs and approach

• Pupil involvement in governance a strength

IDENTIFYING WITH CO-OP VALUES

“protecting a value system we already have”

“you’re adhering to them [the values] and putting them up in a very public place. We felt that was something we wanted to be associated with”

“a lot of our youngsters come in with a passivity, without the feeling they can take control of their world. We wanted to give them an opportunity to do that”

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• Bringing in new expertise via trust partners

• ‘Future proofing’ existing relationships with other schools via cluster trusts

• Collaboration as a different approach to school improvement

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTNERSHIP

“It’s saying, we know we get on, but let’s put a bit more formal responsibility on all of us to work together, to bind us in”. “becoming linked in a multi-institutional network gives you a natural group… and provides back up for you”

“there are pockets of good in all schools that can be shared and because those structures are formalised in co-operative schools, schools can work together to help the weaker ones”

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2. GROWTH THROUGH NETWORKS NOT MARKETING

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• No budget for a campaign to persuade

• Networks of teachers as trusted peers

• Evident in regional clusters

‘QUIET REVOLUTION’ VIA WORD OF MOUTH

“there has been no proselyting anywhere, no big campaign”

“once the story is told, headteachers talk to other headteachers; we trust each other”

“once a school goes, others [in the local area] are more inclined to take it up”

“there’s a snowball effect…you see another group and then another becoming interested”

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3. AN INTERMEDIARY TO AID THE PROCESS OF CONVERSION

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• Packaging and routinising the process

• Associates are often ex-heads – insiders

• Ongoing support • Distinction between

enabling/facilitating and selling the model

ROLE OF THE CO-OPERATIVE COLLEGE

“it wasn’t an area of expertise for us…we liked the idea that the College would guide us through the process”

“They [the schools] are not dropped and left to get on with it. People I converted last year will still call me and ask me questions”

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4. A CONTEXT OF INEVITABLE AND RAPID CHANGE

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• Local authorities encouraging schools to think about structure

• Situation of rapid change provides fertile ground for adoption of new models

• Reflects more general thinking about adoption of (social) innovation “a good idea is not convincing in itself, it comes when people are open to it…an innovation is adopted when minds are ripe” (WILCO project)

STANDING STILL NO LONGER AN OPTION

“the Local Authority were saying to schools, ‘you cannot do nothing, you need to make a change’”

“with all the changes going on with the Ofsted framework, it did seem it was the one window we had to make a bold move”

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FOR DISCUSSION

• What’s changing – new factors becoming more important to adoption?

• Do we expect critical mass to be achieved soon and what level is that at?

• How does the role of the College, Schools Co-operative Society etc need to change in response to growth?

• Are co-op schools about meeting current demands for school improvement or changing the way we understand the concept of school improvement?

THANK YOU

anna.davies@youngfoundation.orgwww.youngfoundation.org

Full case study available for download:http://www.tepsie.eu/images/documents/d72final.pdf