Co-operative Education
The final item of business today is a members' business debate on motion S2M-2411, in the name of Bill Butler, on co-operative education. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament commends the work being undertaken by the Co-operative Group in Scotland to work in partnership with the Scottish Executive and local authorities to introduce knowledge and experience of co-operative principles into the mainstream curriculum of Scottish education; recognises that co-operatives offer a unique and valuable form of business structure from which Scotland can derive economic and social benefit and recognises the need to make more Scots aware of the value of co-operation; supports the establishment of the Co-operative Education Trust Scotland which will involve the wider co-operative movement in education, and believes that the Scottish Executive, Careers Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and local authorities should continue to work with the co-operative movement to ensure the distribution of co-operative resource materials for use in schools, support for teacher placements in the co-operative business environment and support for the involvement of the young co-operatives in schools.
I declare an interest as a member of the Co-operative Party. I thank all members who signed my motion and those who have stayed behind this evening to hear the debate. Before I go any further, I commend my colleagues Elaine Smith and Susan Deacon who, during yesterday's debate on growing an enterprise culture, were the only members to mention the important role that the co-operative and mutual sector plays in Scotland's economy. Sometimes it is too easy for the role of co-ops and the value that they bring to Scotland's economy to be overlooked. Our two largest co-op retailers, the Co-operative Group and the Scottish Midland Co-operative Society employ nearly 10,000 Scots between them and the co-op sector generates more than £500 million of economic activity in Scotland. As convener of the Co-operative Party group of MSPs, I am delighted to have secured the debate.
Education is one of the founding principles of the modern co-operative movement, which has a proud record, with thousands of members and employees benefiting from the many and varied educational programmes open to them. The Rochdale pioneers quite rightly placed the education of their members and their members' children at the heart of their aspirations. For Robert Owen, education was a force for social reform and his pioneering educational venture at New Lanark was an early example of what we would now all regard as community schooling.
The co-op movement's history shows that its commitment to education is beyond question and I believe firmly that there is a strong case for allowing co-op education to play an integral role in the curriculum of all Scottish schools. That would give pupils in Scotland the opportunity to learn about the social and democratic values of the co-op movement as well as about how to develop and run a successful financial enterprise. By giving young people a grounding in the principles and values of the co-op movement we will be helping to develop a generation of young people with an awareness of the impact, both positive and negative, that business can have on individuals, communities and entire nations.
Morality and ethics are missing from the current economic and business education that young people receive. In the current climate, in which people are increasingly aware of the devastating problems that the current economic system can cause for those living in the developing world, I believe that there is enthusiasm for the democratic, progressive and egalitarian values of co-operation.
However, co-operation is about more than just values and ethics; it is about practical assistance. The make poverty history campaign, pressing for action by Governments of the world's richest countries to tackle poverty in the developing world, has been embraced by the co-op movement as well as by thousands of members of the public. The campaign provides opportunities for co-operators to get involved and support development, lifting and keeping people out of poverty. Co-ops will surely play a key role in providing practical support for workers and farmers in the developing world to improve their standards of living and take control of their lives, which is at the heart of the co-op movement's self-help ethic.
Let there be no doubt but that the co-op sector is based on successful, profitable businesses. However, co-operative and mutually run businesses differ from the purely profit-based models of enterprise that are currently presented to young people. Those businesses provide concrete examples that illustrate that it is possible to balance the interests of staff, workers' rights and the environment with the need to make a profit in order to invest. The conventional way of teaching economics in our education system removes the ethical dimension and ignores the damage and negative impact that untrammelled business can have. By providing young people with knowledge of the principles of the co-op movement, we might show them that businesses, while maintaining a healthy level of profit to reinvest, can and should act responsibly and ethically to protect all those who are affected by their operations.
I stress that co-op education could easily extend beyond being just another classroom subject. In the early 1990s, there were successful pilots promoting teen co-ops in schools in Glasgow and Lanarkshire. Many schools encourage pupils to undertake enterprise projects as part of their enterprise education, so there is no reason why schools should not encourage their pupils to set up and run their own co-op enterprises. The many and varied business activities that are run on co-op principles throughout Scotland, from farmers' markets and financial services to retail co-ops, should be offered as concrete examples for teachers and pupils to draw on.
My heart is cheering at what Bill Butler is saying, but I wonder whether he finds the same dichotomy in what he is talking about as there was in what was discussed in the chamber yesterday, in the debate on growing an enterprise culture. There seem to be two philosophies at work but, if we have to choose, I will choose his.
I would not claim to be a philosopher, but I am a student of philosophy. The struggle to evolve a way of running society that benefits people is something that every member of the Parliament is involved in. The co-operative model is one way in which we can progress matters and I am grateful for Margo MacDonald's commendation.
I hope that, in responding to the debate, the minister will give assurances that the Executive will continue to engage with the co-operative education trust Scotland, as well as with the wider co-op movement in Scotland, to address the issues that I have touched on so far with the other stakeholders, including local authority education departments, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Careers Scotland and the proposed co-op development agency, of which I hope to hear much more from the ministerial team in the near future.
If the Executive is serious about giving co-op education a role in our education system, I ask the minister to consider the following: the need to formalise teaching on co-op and mutual principles in enterprise and economics education in our schools; the need to introduce the relevant modules to Scottish teacher training courses, giving teachers the required knowledge on the work of co-operatives to pass on to their pupils, which is a prerequisite for this to be successful; the need to increase the possibility of work placement opportunities for teaching staff, allowing them to gain practical knowledge about the co-op sector; and, finally, the need for the Executive to work with local authorities to develop and co-ordinate young co-op projects as alternatives to traditional enterprise projects in schools. By encouraging young people to learn about co-op enterprise, we will help to create a new generation of entrepreneurs who are socially aware and whose outlook is not dominated by the motive of profit for profit's sake.
I congratulate Bill Butler on bringing the debate to Parliament and on the content of his speech, which I am sure was appreciated by all members present. That includes the philosophy in his speech. The initiative that he described fits well with the Executive's agenda for enterprise in education. A co-operative model would be an appropriate model to adopt for young people who are interested in participating in enterprise activities. Of course, co-operatives can be just as entrepreneurial as any other form of business.
As well as learning about business, youngsters will be made more aware of the benefits of co-operation and that getting ahead in life does not mean trampling over other people. They will learn that success might be better achieved by working together productively with other people to achieve collective as well as individual goals. There is a great deal of added value to be gained for our communities—both local and national—in widening and deepening young people's appreciation of democratic principles and practices. That is a good way in which to encourage active citizenship.
I note, also, that existing young co-operatives have a third string to their bow. In addition to learning about business skills and co-operative working, the youngsters learn about fair trade. They learn to appreciate the importance of fair trade by finding out about the lives of producers and growers in the developing world. They see the direct relationship between the products that they are selling and the lives of the families and individuals who benefit from fair trade. I hope that that will remain a feature of young co-operatives in our schools.
The briefing note that Bill Butler helpfully arranged for the debate highlights the unique selling proposition of the co-operative movement as a combination of the three Es—education, enterprise and ethics. It is entirely appropriate that the Parliament supports the establishment of the co-operative education trust Scotland and the progressive values that it will promote. I support the motion.
I begin by commending Bill Butler for his motion and for the speech that he made in support of it. As I have said before, I have long been a supporter of co-operative and mutual principles and I welcome the revival of interest in co-operative forms in recent years, not least in housing and in matters as diverse as organic produce, credit unions, agriculture and farmers' markets.
Most of us who are slightly older than others think of co-operatives in terms of the Co-operative Workers Society and the divvy. I certainly remember with fondness the huge selection of products to be found in the impressive co-op headquarters in Newgate Street in Newcastle, where my grandmother was a member. Changes in commercial fashion and practice have wiped out a large part of the CWS network, but it has been replaced by new shoots of co-operative growth in other areas. Like Bill Butler, I look forward to the fruits of the new co-operative development agency in due course.
I welcome the proposed co-operative education trust Scotland, which complements the Executive's work through "Determined to Succeed" in supporting enterprise in schools. However, I do that with two caveats and one observation. The trust must work with the grain of the education system. If teachers feel that it is just another burden on them, it will fail. The teacher placement pilot is worth while, but there have been several projects where education materials that have been produced outwith the system have ended up unused and on shelves. It is very important to involve teachers and educators proactively.
The first caveat is that I think it would be a mistake if there is any suggestion of viewing co-operative principles as being opposed to enterprise principles. They are parallel and often go in the same direction. The social economy often operates in the same market as small businesses and it can be mere chance whether one form of organisation rather than another is chosen. Small businesses, co-operatives and other social economy groups should be partners, not opponents.
As we heard yesterday, soft skills such as the ability to get on with others, to turn up to work on time and so on, are very important in enterprise as well as in society. Does the member agree that co-operative education is just the sort of programme that we need to help to teach those soft skills and that it will be complementary to what is being done in schools?
That is absolutely right and that is the connection that I was trying to make. I was also making the point that the fate of the old CWS shows how a co-operative body with an inadequate feel for enterprise can be swept aside and might not keep up to date.
The second caveat is one that will not find favour in a certain part of the chamber. It is time to break the political connection between certain parts of the co-operative movement and the Labour Party. That exclusive connection has long since ceased to be in the interests of co-operators and, if anything, it can hinder the growth of the sector. It is bad for the principles of co-operation. Liberal Democrats have always viewed co-operative and mutual principles as being entirely central to our view of life and many other members in all parts of the chamber also support co-operative principles. I mention that because the briefing paper that Bill Butler was kind enough to circulate comes from the Scottish Co-operative Party and purports to be brought forward by Bill Butler in his capacity as chair of the Labour Co-operative group of MSPs. I do not think that that is a terribly good basis on which to attract broad support for the proposal.
That said, the Co-operative Group—not the party—is committing £225,000 to the project and it hopes for a long-term engagement with the Scottish education system. It is right that young people should be acquainted with forms of economic enterprise that stress co-operation and partnership, inclusiveness and social awareness as well as competition and enterprise. Those values fit well with the ethos of most schools and the parallel idea of corporate social responsibility is coming in from the other side and the best businesses. With those comments, I support the motion.
Bill Butler is absolutely right to highlight the enlightened example of Robert Owen at New Lanark. I can confirm that his descendants are all thriving in North America; I have met them there.
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak in this members' business debate on the topic of co-operative education. However, I must mention a past interest that is certainly not current. As a young advocate, 33 years ago, I was appointed as a commissioner to gather evidence from some records and files belonging to the Co-operative Group, if my memory serves me correctly. Even if my memory had not been dimmed by the passage of time, the highest standards of professionalism would prevent me from divulging whatever evidence was obtained. All that I will say is that I took my duties seriously.
I am well aware of the Co-operative Group's genuine and admirable commitment to ethical business, sustainability and social benefit. I am also aware that the co-operative education trust Scotland has developed materials that schools can use in project work and that help pupils to learn about the principles of co-operative business. One of those principles is social benefit, which involves consideration of the wider aims of the community in which the business is located. Another is democratic control and the principle of one member, one vote. Everyone has an equal say, regardless of seniority or the amount of investment that they have made in the business. That is altogether worthy.
I join Mr Butler in commending the aims of the Co-operative Group in Scotland. I believe that we all support its aims of education, enterprise and ethics. In my opinion, more businesses should be encouraged to make an active contribution to Scottish education. All members would agree that schools should remain objective. The co-operative education trust Scotland is to be congratulated on its efforts to provide resource materials for schools and support for teacher placements.
Opportunities for alternative involvement with enterprise and industry sectors should also be supported and encouraged by local authorities and schools. For example, since September last year, pupils at Peebles High School have been involved with a business partnership of 50 local businesses, the aim of which is to offer pupils a series of progressive business and enterprise activities, from secondary 1 to secondary 6, and to focus on core skills by preparing pupils in real-life situations. Some pupils were involved in a marketing project with eight local businesses to design and produce carrier bags that advertised the local Beltane festival. Others worked with a local builder on all aspects of planning to build a house.
Businesses can contribute to the local community and can simultaneously form the basis of a strong entrepreneurial future for the local economy by equipping young people with skills for work. Local businesses should be encouraged to work with schools to train pupils in the necessary skills for work and to provide young people with appropriate work experience. The increased curricular flexibility that such projects offer, along with their obvious relevance to life well beyond school, make them enterprise schemes that are to be greatly welcomed. It is to be hoped that different learning styles and contexts will increase pupil motivation and raise attainment.
I conclude by congratulating Mr Butler warmly on lodging a very relevant and important motion, which I support.
Like other members, I start by congratulating Bill Butler on bringing the debate to the Parliament. Co-operative education is a really important issue. A proper discussion of a wider vision of the role of enterprise in education is crucial as the enterprise education programmes in our schools develop.
Robert Brown was absolutely correct to stress that there is no contradiction between enterprise and co-operation. If co-ops and other forms of socially responsible enterprise are to thrive, they must recognise that they operate in the enterprise field—they are enterprises, not charities or voluntary sector organisations.
I welcome the fact that there is more enterprise education in schools. We must teach young people about how the world works—how markets work and how to be enterprising in their lives and economic operations. However, we need to teach more ethics at school alongside that. Enterprise must be about more than personal benefit. We need to consider the wider social and environmental benefits of enterprise.
Ethical education is the necessary counterpart of enterprise education, but we must avoid simply imposing a set of ethical values on our young people. We must not tell young people that certain values are correct and that they must follow them. The central part of ethical education must be discussion and exploration. Young people must decide what ethical imperatives are appropriate for their lives, enterprises and school enterprise projects.
That is why we must consider different ways of running our enterprises. Bill Butler was right to say that co-ops are one—albeit very central—way of progressing matters, but other members such as Lord James Douglas-Hamilton have recognised that we should encourage our young people to explore community enterprises and to consider the triple bottom line that is so central to corporate social responsibility. They should consider the whole of the social enterprise field, which means looking not just at profit but at social and environmental implications, and thinking about opening up enterprise education in our schools to social enterprise and, for example, the wider issues around fair trade that Bill Butler referred to. After all, implicit in fair trade is a critique of our free trade system. Young people must have a chance to discuss what fair trade means in practice rather than simply accepting that it is a good thing in itself.
As I have said, we should explore a wide variety of models. As co-ops are central to that, I welcome the co-operative development agency and the co-operative education trust Scotland. They are great initiatives, but I agree with Robert Brown that co-operation and co-operative principles cannot be seen as the prerogative of any one political party. They are for everyone in Scotland, whatever their political affiliation.
I conclude by mentioning one project that I came across through the cross-party group on the Scottish economy. The enterprising global citizenship project, which is supported by the United Nations Children's Fund—UNICEF—Learning and Teaching Scotland and Careers Scotland, tries to encourage young people in enterprise education to think about themselves as members of a global community; to explore the different models of enterprise that are open to them; to have a proper discussion about the products that they will produce; and to apply an ethical test to consider the product's implications for wider society and the environment. When the product is up and running, they need to think about whether the money should go to the leaders of the project or whether the pupils should use it to make a contribution to wider society and their community. If they decide to make a contribution to society, they need to find out how that will be organised. The project offers a real chance to discuss the ethics of enterprise.
I apologise for intervening at this point in the member's speech. How would he explain to young people in school about the choice that they will have to make if they discover that they can produce their product more cheaply than a poorer society elsewhere in the world could?
That is the key debate that we in Scotland will be faced with. We must expose our children to such real discussions and situations. I have to say that I think that poor countries with lower environmental and labour standards will produce things more cheaply than we can here, but I thank Margo MacDonald for highlighting that key element of the debate.
I welcome the debate and the opportunity that it has given for more discussion of co-operative education in enterprise education. However, we need to broaden things out and think about socially responsible enterprise models. In particular, I congratulate everyone who has worked with the enterprising global citizenship project to take forward one aspect of that matter in the curriculum.
I join other members in thanking the ubiquitous Bill Butler for securing this debate and I welcome the sentiments that are expressed in his motion. As an aside, I see no contradiction, distinction or difference in the motion being lodged by Bill Butler, his colleagues in the Co-operative Party, the Labour movement more generally or any other source. Members of any political affiliation or none are at liberty to support or oppose what is said. I, for one, welcome the sentiments and have been interested to hear the excellent points that have been made during the debate.
Co-operatives were, of course, founded in the late 18th century in places such as Fenwick and Govan, which are not far from where I live. They have since become a part of the fabric of Scottish society, to the extent that we have learned that by virtue of his involvement with the movement, James Douglas-Hamilton has a dark secret that he refuses to divulge to members.
The Executive recognises the importance of co-operative and mutual organisations in the modern world. Such organisations contribute to the growth of our economy, provide jobs and offer economic and social benefits to communities. We are therefore committed to improving the provision of advice on co-operative development, which lies at the heart of our current work to establish a co-operative development agency. We hope that that agency will play a key role in promotion, creation and development of dynamic and sustainable co-operatives in Scotland.
It has been said that co-operatives are based on the values or principles of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity, which we all cherish and to which we all subscribe. Co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Such principles and values must underpin a Scottish co-operative agency, which should provide a first-stop shop for people who seek the expertise, advice, training and resources that are necessary to encourage and allow the pursuit of the co-operative option.
The agency should be able to help to improve the growth of individual co-operatives that have good commercial prospects. I cannot give a firm commitment today on the activities that the agency would undertake, but it should take account of work that is under way and it should avoid duplication of existing support mechanisms that work well. I envisage that internal consultation will conclude perhaps this month and I hope that my colleague will make a more definitive statement in mid-May. I am sure that that date will not be lost in the bigger picture.
The motion acknowledges that our schools are the places to start—Bill Butler's speech was apposite in that regard. The curriculum review provides a new context for co-operative education. The response to "A Curriculum for Excellence" outlines how we will deliver a single and coherent Scottish curriculum for people aged from three to 18. We will provide schools with flexibility to use a range of approaches, which could include co-operative education to allow all young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors.
To answer Robert Brown, I am not talking about compelling, but about including—that is an important distinction. To do what I have said we will do, we will work in partnership with the widest range of stakeholders that we can engage in the next phase of the curriculum review. One stakeholder might be the co-operative education trust Scotland, which was established in response to our determined to succeed strategy. The trust brings together representations from across the co-operative movement.
The Co-operative Group and Co-operative Action have committed an initial £225,000 to make things happen. Incidentally, I say to Margo MacDonald that I do not see any inherent contradiction in that respect. Learning about the market is not incompatible with learning about co-operation or its position in that market—indeed, Co-op retail is a classic example of the genre.
I was referring to yesterday's debate in particular, in which the words "co-operation" and "co-operative business" never occurred once. I listened to the debate and was tempted to mention co-operatives in Portugal, which are modern and entrepreneurial, as examples, but that would have been so much out of kilter with everything else that was being said that I did not mention them.
As Margo MacDonald knows, I was present throughout the debate and had the privilege of summing up. I assure her that one of my colleagues—Elaine Smith—made comprehensive and extensive reference to the roles of co-operation, the co-operative movement and co-operatives in building the wider social economy. There is never enough time to respond to every point in a debate, but that point was well made by Elaine Smith yesterday.
The co-operative education trust is more than a one-off response to an Executive initiative. It will enhance long-term engagement between the movement and all aspects of education here in Scotland. It recognises the importance of teachers getting out of school and into business. That is the sort of opportunity that excellence in education through business links—our teacher placement programme—offers. By spending a week working alongside business colleagues, teachers can enhance their knowledge of the world of work and then impart it to the pupils who are in their care. They can take back a wider perspective to their classrooms and, as enterprising teachers, they can give young people the skills, knowledge and positive attitudes that they will need to make their way in life.
Careers Scotland and Employee Ownership Scotland are working together to use that model. Over a three-day period, 10 teachers from six local authority areas will visit co-operatives such as the John Lewis Partnership and the Co-op to gain an insight into the benefits of employee ownership in a business environment. All that is good work, which augurs well for the future.
Again, I thank Bill Butler for lodging his motion, which rightly commends the work that we are doing and highlights the need for us to think about our young people in particular as we take forward Scotland's proud tradition of co-operation into the decades to come.
Meeting closed at 17:46.