Resources
The Co-operative College has produced a number of free resources for use in schools in collaboration with Business and Enterprise Colleges and the Enterprise Network.
Co-operate for Change: Fairtrade in Your School
Two resource packs full of ideas, case studies, photos and activities based around fair and ethical trade. The Co-operate for Change! Fairtrade in Your School primary school pack is aimed at Key Stage 2, introducing students to Fairtrade and co-operative enterprises. It is full of background information, activities, games and teaching ideas to empower students to learn about and take action on Fairtrade.
The secondary school Co-operate for Change! Fairtrade in Your School pack is aimed at Key Stage 3 and 4, with some activities also suitable for Key Stage 5.
Explore and download both resources at www.enterprisevillage.org.uk/cooperateforchange/menu.html.
Greenfingers
A resource for schools wishing to set up a Greenfingers horticultural Young Co-operative.
Greenfingers involves students in gardening through school plots and allotments. It explores practical and ethical challenges in producing food and plants, considering issues such as where food comes from and its environmental impact. Schools have incorporated Greenfingers into their curriculum in areas such as Science, Maths, Food Technology, Citizenship and Art and Design.
The Greenfingers pack contains advice on what to grow, and when, as well as case studies and activity ideas, including practical instructions for making greenhouses, raised beds and compost boxes.
Download from www.enterprisevillage.org.uk.
Recon
The Recon Young Co-operatives model enables students to set up and run an enterprise focusing on waste management and the three ‘R’s of ‘reduce’, ‘reuse’ and ‘recycle’. The accompanying Recon pack provides practical, step-by-step manufacturing guides, such as how to make jewellery and paper from waste.
The resource is packed with background on waste and recycling, containing fact sheets on landfills as well as detailing the processes for making everyday materials such as cotton and steel. There are also case studies and ideas for classroom activities, from setting up a wormery to holding a newspaper fashion show.
Download from www.enterprisevillage.org.uk.
Robert Owen Day
The Co-operative College’s Robert Owen Day kit, which is designed for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 students, commemorates and explores how the ideas of Robert Owen – probably the world’s first social entrepreneur – are still relevant over 150 years after his death. It contains in-depth background information for teachers and learning activities for a class, year group or whole school focus on social enterprise.
The cross-curricular activities in the pack can be used either as the basis of a special Robert Owen Day event or used within the ongoing classroom programme.
Download from www.enterprisevillage.org.uk.
For more information email schools@co-op.ac.uk or call 0161 246 2966.
Everybody’s Business
Everybody’s Business is an exciting animated web-based programme which introduces students to ethical business. The resource, which is aimed primarily at Key Stage 4 students, is based around the journey, from production to consumption, of four everyday products.
Exploring interactive scenes, students discover where and how a typical mobile phone, outfit, fast-food meal and holiday is produced.
Activities, case studies, videos and background information discuss the ethical issues surrounding not only the producers of these items and their communities but implications for the environment and the planet.
Everybody’s Business can be explored on the Enterprise Network website.
THE ENTERPRISE NETWORK
The Enterprise Network works across the 5-19 age ranges to improve the quality and quantity of enterprise education in schools and colleges in England. We have a sustainable network of 54 Enterprise Learning Partnerships (ELPs), who working collaboratively with other schools and colleges in their area to support enterprise and make a real difference to learners, to give them the skills and capabilities to be enterprising citizens in the 21st century. The Enterprise Village is the online element of the Enterprise Network. It acts as a single online source of free resources, CPD events, information and professional development opportunities in Enterprise Education.
For more information or to access resources, visit: www.enterprisevillage.org.uk.
Blueberry Day Resource
The Blueberry Day Resource was put together for a videoconference and cookalong for co-operative schools that was held by the Co-operative College with visiting Fairtrade blueberry producer Chino Henriquez, General Manager of Chilean honey co-operative Apicoop. The resource contains PDFs of the eight delicious recipes schools made and background information, as well as a PowerPoint presentation of a quiz testing students’ knowledge of blueberries and Fairtrade.
Blueberry Day Resource (zip file)
Co-operation – it’s a Piece of Cake!
This resource gets students thinking about the issues surrounding Fairtrade and organic food, with recipes for chocolate cake, tea cake and ginger cookies packed full of ethically sourced ingredients.
By baking and sharing goodies full of Fairtrade ingredients, students will share wealth with producer co-operatives in poorer countries and put the co-operative values and principles into action.
Accompanying case studies and activities tell the stories of the producers behind the ingredients, and get students thinkng about how co-operatives make a difference.
The kit also includes some stickers and other marketing materials for the students to promote their baked products.
Rochdale Pioneers magical mystery game
The Pioneers magical mystery game is a giant board game which helps players find out about the story of the Rochdale Pioneers. Clues hidden in different posters tell the amazing story of the Pioneers, from the humble origins of their shop in Rochdale to their ongoing influence on co-operatives across the world today.
Meet the Pioneers souvenir brochure
This small booklet was produced as a souvenir from the Meet the Pioneers Day, an event aiming to introduce primary school students in Rochdale to the story of their prominent ancestors. Activities help students understand how and why the Pioneers started their shop and the influence the principles they set out have on co-operatives today.
Meet the Pioneers Souvenir Brochure
20 and 12 ways to celebrate the International Year of Co-operatives
Are you looking for ways to celebrate 2012, the International Year of Co-operatives, in your school?
Look no further than our 2012 ideas and activities brochure, which contains 12 big activities and 20 small ideas for celebrating and sharing just what it is that makes co-operatives unique. Suggestions range from co-operative assemblies and sports days to getting co-operation in the curriculum, and from linking with other co-operative schools across the country and across the globe to creating a co-operative performance to showcase at the IYC closing celebrations.
Co-opville
Co-opville is a new, hands-on role play game which simulates the experience of what it’s like to be part of the co-operative business world. The game is ideal for giving 10-16 year olds an insight into the co-operative values and principles in business situations. Participants are grouped into into seven teams, each of which takes on the functions of a co-operative: from a bank to a farm to a retailer. To be successful in the game, each co-operative must not only to make a profit but also earn points by completing community and environmental challenges. These challenges help the co-operatives think about how the co-operative values and principles are relevant in business situations, and consider issues like Fairtrade.
Schools and Young People - News & Events