The international conference on Co-operative Learning and Responsible Citizenship in the 21st Century was held in Manchester, England from 20-23 June, 2002, jointly sponsored by the Co-operative College and the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education (IASCE). From all accounts, the conference was a big success. What was particularly exciting was the coming together of people from a wide range of backgrounds who had been working toward commons ends but had previously been only vaguely, if at all, aware of what the others were doing.

Conference participants were welcomed by Mervyn Wilson, Co-operative College principal, and Lynda Baloche, IASCE co-president. Mervyn emphasized the inextricable link between building successful co-operative businesses and work to promote co-operative learning: "Co-operative businesses are based on a set of values that emphasize democracy and fairness — values that are also the basis of active citizenship. If democratic renewal is to take place we need to ensure that young people learn the skills and processes of co-operation. That is why co-operative learning is important."

In her welcome, Lynda noted that, "This conference and our collaboration with the Co-operative College is an important opportunity for IASCE to extend our international network, share our expertise about the value and use of cooperation in schools, and develop new perspectives about the Co-operative Movement and democratic citizenship."

Terry Piggott, Director of Education in nearby Rochdale, and Michele Sutton, Principal and Chief Executive of Hopwood Hall College, also addressed the opening session, explaining the UK education system to delegates from nearly 20 countries — including Czech Republic, Cyprus, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Singapore, Spain, and the US.

Two other plenary sessions were held. In Friday evening’s plenary, Ian MacPherson of Canada’s Victoria Institute for Co-operative Studies presented a historical overview of the co-operative movement, former IASCE president Neil Davidson did the same for the IASCE, and Cheryl Turner, a development officer at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (UK), examined the contemporary need to develop citizenship skills.

Saturday’s plenary, chaired by the Chief Executive of the Co-operative Union, Pauline Green, featured presentations by Elizabeth Cohen of Stanford University and Stephen Yeo, Chair of the Board of Management at the Co-operative College. Elizabeth outlined the role that cooperative learning could play in healing divisions and bringing children of different backgrounds and abilities together. She said that cooperative learning was a challenging method of teaching but told delegates, "Only through travelling the road together will we be able to shape citizens who are able to function in the new, challenging and pluralistic society."

Stephen examined the concept of citizenship, high on the agenda of schools, and asked what the Co-operative Movement could add to that agenda. He said noted that where citizenship had historically tended to focus on the individual, the Co-operative Movement was about the collective. Citizenship was political, while co-operation could add the economics to the political, to create the social.

Of course, no IASCE conference is complete without some fun and games, and this conference was particularly noteworthy. Dynamix (www.seriousfun.demon.co.uk), an organization whose goal is having "serious fun," made sure we kept moving, with fun that included cooperative parachute games, drumming, singing, and dancing to an Irish folk music band. Adding to the both the fun and the opportunities for networking was the conference facility. Participants shared meals (and some nice fair-trade, organic wine) and many tea breaks. The brightly decorated main conference hall seemed to pulsate with networking opportunities--including a jargon buster wall for asking about or defining terms, a matchmaking wall where people posted their pictures and interests in order to connect with like-minded participants, and space for people to display students’ work.

In summary, the approximately 150 participants came away from the conference a bit weary but full of excitement about what is being done and what can be done to promote cooperation in schools and beyond. IASCE benefited from the conference by reaching out to new people and by reconnecting with old friends. Tentative plans are for the next IASCE conference to be held in Singapore in 2004. Watch the IASCE website for details as they unfold.