ABSTRACT
Education is crucial in this context. The role of mass schooling in reproducing the inequalities of a given social order has long been a subject of sociological and historical critique. Developing a coherent discourse of contemporary 'co-operative education' depends upon drawing meaning from both historical practice and making the culture of co-operation more visible and thus subject to reflection, dialogue and re-articulation within a rapidly changing social and cultural context. Although co-operative schools have enjoyed a period of rapid growth in number at the time of writing, the development of a co-operative school identity remains fragile and uncertain. Co-operative forms of organization in schools by including freely and equally all voices - pupils, parents, wider communities - may develop approaches, mechanisms, procedures that provide a check on elite power and thus enable the spread of democratic accountability. Education involves drawing out the powers of individuals to think, imagine, feel and act.
