As part of the Co-operation Week in Schools, France's national co-operative body, Coop FR, has been promoting co-operative enterprises in schools. Co-operation Week is a joint initiative of Coop FR and the Central Office for Co-operation in Schools (OCCE) that has been in existence for 12 years.
Throughout the week in March, the two organisations hosted various events in schools across France that enable pupils to find out more about the social and solidarity economy. They engaged in debates on co-operative enterprises, took part in co-operative games and rallies and visited co-operative enterprises.
To stimulate high schools to teach the values co-operation, Coop FR and OCCE published a guide designed to guide social science and economy teachers. The book is written by sociologist Jean-François Draperi, who is the editor of the International Review of Social Economy (RECMA). It contains 26 articles and 24 examples of co-operative enterprises.
The book offers a general overview of the co-operative model, with a look at the various types of co-operative enterprises. Readers are introduced to the co-operative principles put forward by the Rochdale Pioneers and they also get to learn about the worker co-operative model envisioned by Jean-Baptiste André Godin.
The manual also touches upon the structure and governance of co-operatives as well as their contribution to economy and local community.
“This book is for teachers and stakeholders who want to introduce co-operatives and the Co-operative Movement to non-experts. It was devised as a manual and can be used as a supporting guide or as a paper for students or a particular audience. Beyond that, it is aimed at anyone wishing to discover co-operatives and the contemporary Co-operative Movement”, Mr Draperi writes in the manual’s intro.
The book also refers to the current initiatives devised by the French Minister for Social and Solidarity Economy, Benoît Hamond. One of these projects is a new social economy law that will help grow worker co-operatives. The law passed the first reading in the French Senate on 7 November.
