ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the positioning of co-operativism as an alternative form of education in the English school system. The chapter offers a framework of strategic identities and orientations to help in reflecting on these challenges and opportunities. Co-operativism is well placed to play a key role in helping to reshape mainstream policy discourse on education. The purpose of education tends to be narrowed to a focus on economistic ends aimed at creating individuals who fit the needs of business. Co-operativism offers a specific kind of democratic anchoring for education. Hence in England, co-operativism with its substantial social, cultural and financial capital is a significant player challenging convergence around an instrumentally-driven business model of schooling and an impoverished, performative view of education. The different forms of strategic identity and orientations to external relationships discussed in the chapter offer a framework for reflecting on the challenges and opportunities in achieving this.
