FAQs
Co-operative Trust
The co-operative trust model embeds co-operative values and principles into schools. These include open membership, equal democratic participation (one member, one vote) and a clear line of accountability from those who manage the schools to those that use the school and its extended services. Importantly this offers schools the opportunity to involve the wider community in the running of the school, including local people, businesses, voluntary groups, charities, parents, pupils and staff through membership of a ‘Council’ or ‘Forum’. The ‘Council’ appoints trustees to the trust which, in turn, appoints governors to the governing body of the school. The Council plays a pivotal role in delivering the trust’s objectives in accordance with the core co-operative values.
The trust is managed by the Board of Trustees, which is financially responsible for the trust. The school remains funded in the same way as previously and the finances are managed by the Governing Body.
A trust school is a Local Authority maintained school and will continue to be financed in the same way as other maintained schools.
There are different categories of membership; parent, staff (anyone who works for the school, from caretakers to teachers), learners and community members (aimed at small community groups who don’t carry enough weight to be a full blown partner in the Trust but still have an interest in the school). Some schools also have the option for individuals from the local community, and former students, to become members.
The members of a co-operative trust elect a stakeholder forum. Members of the forum have a direct say in the trust, electing a number of Trustees (usually a minority).
Governance mechanisms ensure key stakeholders – parents/carers, staff, learners and the local community – have a voice through membership.
Driven by a desire to keep schools accountable to the local communities they serve, and led by a small group of pioneering head teachers who had been experimenting with operating their schools with a co-operative values-based ethos, a new model of school governance emerged in 2008 – the co-operative foundation trust.
Schools which adopt this model acquire a foundation – their land and assets transfer from the local authority to a locally-run charitable trust. Written into the constitution of these trusts is a commitment to operate the school in accordance with the values of the global co-operative movement namely, self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity.
Democratic accountability is ensured through membership. Stakeholders in the school: parents and carers, staff, students, and local people, can become members and elect representatives to the trust board. They hold the school to account for the way in which it implements its co-operative values.
Growth has been rapid and today there are around 800+ co-operative schools, with more currently in the process of conversion. Whilst the first trusts were single schools, most now comprise clusters of schools across a geographical area with the structure providing a framework for sharing expertise and resources, ensuring smooth transition, bulk procurement, and stronger schools supporting weaker ones.
There is no blue-print for the education provided by a co-operative trust school, and no ‘top down’ imposition of time-tables, curriculum options, holiday dates, or uniform colour – as prescribed by some of the academy chains. Each trust is an independent co-operative in its own right and as such must make its own decisions about how the values are applied in the day-to-day activities of the school. Implementing the co-operative ethos may be seen vividly in the classroom practices in one co-operative school and more strongly in the engagement with the local community in another. Pupil and staff democracy may be emphasized in yet another school, whilst a strong co-operative and social enterprise curriculum may feature elsewhere.
Since 2008, co-operative Trusts and Academies have spread rapidly across England, heralded as offering a more democratic and less top-down alternative to the current school system. Co-operative schools in England are the latest in an international movement of co-operative schools, long-established in many parts of the world from Spain to the USA.
Co-operative schools embed the values and principles into every aspect of school life, from their membership structure to curriculum and pedagogy.
Co-operative schools offer a different model of accountability in England’s school system. They are owned by their members – staff, students, parents/carers and members of the local community – and accountable to a stakeholder forum drawn from these key constituencies. Local people are encouraged to get actively involved in the running of their schools.
The Co-operative College works with co-operative schools to look at how the globally shared co-operative values and ethos can have a real impact on the running of the school, its curriculum, teaching and learning practices, staff development and engagement with its local community.
Co-operative values can help schools raise standards in a variety of ways including through developing partnerships, helping to engage the local community in the strategic direction of schools and strengthening the curriculum. They can also help pupils/students gain a better understanding of their role as learners and citizens and how they can help build a fairer society.
The charitable Trust is formed with a number of partners, who become part of the Trust. These often include a local college, HE establishment or university, a prominent local business, national organisations, the NHS at a local level, sporting organisations, voluntary or community organisations and other organisations with a general concern about the education and welfare of young people. Most include a partner from the wider co-operative movement. Sustainable relationships with external partners can bring renewed drive and expertise to the school and help improve standards. Some representatives from the partners sit on the trust board.
No. The school budget will continue to go directly to the governing body, not to the trust. Trusts must be constituted as not-for-profit charities – any income must be used to support their charitable aims, which must focus on the advancement of education and community cohesion.
Yes. Parents will be consulted about the proposed trust and will be able to express their views.
There will be no reduction in the role and responsibilities of the governing body of trust schools. The governing body of a trust school (which retains parents, staff, community and local authority governors) remains responsible for all major decisions about the school and its future as well as all aspects of the conduct of the school (including the school’s budget and staff) and so responsibilities and accountabilities remain clear. The Trust holds the land and capital assets on trust for the Governing Body of the school. Head teachers will retain their responsibility for the day-to-day running of their schools.
The land and assets are held in trust and cannot be sold without permission of the local authority, Governing Body and/or the Secretary of State. If the land and assets are sold the proceeds can only be used for the purposes of the trust – ie to promote education and for no other purpose.
Many schools work closely together already, but without a formal structure. A trust is a way of formalising the relationship. Working together has the potential to be very powerful and trusts often bring together one or more high schools with their partner primaries. One benefit is that resources can be used a lot more efficiently – a partnership of schools has increased purchasing power, for example.
The School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) Regulations 2013 (often known as the SOPAM regulations), provide for all rights, powers, duties and liabilities to transfer existing staff from the Local Authority to the Governing Body of each school.
Employees will be employed by their school’s Governing Body instead of the Local Authority.
Co-operative Trust schools will continue to recognise the same unions and staff associations. The existing rights of teachers will be fully protected if schools acquire a Trust. The Trust schools will continue to be bound by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
The governing body will ensure that the existing terms and conditions for Support Staff will be safeguarded as per the prescribed regulations and staff will have the same employment rights they currently have as Local Authority employees.
Staff will be employed by the governing body, as is already the case in existing Trust or voluntary aided schools. For community schools, when the school acquires Trust category, existing staff will transfer from the local authority to the governing body. They transfer as per the prescribed regulations, which protect their existing conditions of service. Existing and new teaching staff will continue to work under the terms of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD). The school will set out the terms and conditions for any new support staff.
The Trust does not employ school staff and does not have any direct control over staffing issues in the school.
Under the terms of the 2013 regulations referred to above, all staff will continue to enjoy as a minimum entitlement the same terms and conditions of employment as staff in any maintained school. The process itself is a no measures transfer TUPE. It does not require the extensive consultation that is required under TUPE legislation as legally under the SOPAM regulations it is seen as ‘re-organisation within a public service’, rather than the complete change of employment situation found for instance in staff transferring from a community school to an academy.
No each school maintains its own identity, ethos and individuality. There will be no change other than it may say ‘xxxx school a member of the xxxx partnership’.
The Schools Co-operative Society is an independent body that is a secondary co-operative run and owned by the co-operative schools. The Schools Co-operative Society has practical and administrative benefits, such as procurement of services and school improvement support but it also acts as a voice for the group of schools. To find out more about the Schools Co-operative Society visit their website www.csnetwork.coop