France and England: Sharing co-op values
France is physically our closest neighbour and co-operation is well established in both business and education. At the 2010 Schools Co-operative Society conference a representative from the Office Central de la Coopération à l’Ecole (OCCE), the national federation for co-operative education in France, presented aspects of their work – they operate a number of national activities for their 4.5 million members and, over the past few years, have developed a programme to support co-operative styles of education.
Stephen Brice, a Co-operative College Associate, has been working to develop the relationship with the OCCE. He sees great potential for finding ways of working with young French co-operators, supporting the development of cultural understanding and language skills through participation in OCCE activities and learning from their approach to co-operative pedagogy. This is, of cours
e reciprocal, as many College activities are ideal for working together.
A significant step forward took place just before Christmas. Stephen Brice accompanied Hannah Law, Assistant Headteacher at St Clere’s Specialist Science College and Co-operative Academy in Thurrock, Essex, to Paris, a trip that moved opportunities significantly forward. When they arrived at the Gare du Nord, Yves Potel, President of the OCCE, and Christian Robillard, General Secretary, were waiting at the end of the platform. The party set off for a Paris elementary school.
Entering the classroom it was obvious that the students were co-operating. Valerie, the teacher, had structured their science lesson so the learning took place because of the co-operation in their learning groups. This was immediately followed by the students’ regular council meeting. The class discussed and agreed various actions relating to the running of the school, with all aspects of the meeting being run by the young co-operators. Both Hannah and Stephen were struck that, although it was pouring with rain (they did order good weather but obviously the request was held up in the Christmas post!), the young students worked through without a break. Their concentration was remarkable.
Upon her return to St 
Clere’s, Hannah immediately enlisted the help of the languages department in arranging a pen pal link – Valerie had already corresponded with email details. The partnership is starting with a class of year 7 students corresponding in French with students from the school in Paris.
Discussions are already underway to pilot how they could work together on the OCCE’s Ecoles Fleuries (Flowering Schools) project, which is very similar to our Eco-Schools initiative. A possible theme is improving the school environment with the potential for a sustainability study to be carried out in both schools.
Hannah said: “Group work and co-operation is a vital skill for pupils to learn and being a co-operative academy it is at the heart of all we try to do. I am hoping that the OCCE will be able to support our languages department at St Clere’s after seeing the skills shown by Valerie on our visit. It is our hope that, if this happens, the language department will then work with staff in other departments.”
The OCCE has, over the past few years, developed a uniquely ‘French’ approach to co-operative education. 4.5 million active members is success by most measures and the opportunities of working together appear to be growing rapidly.
For more information, or if you would like to become involved, please contact Stephen Brice at stephenb@co-op.ac.uk.
Filed Under: Co-operatives Globally • Schools and Young People
Co-operative Learning