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Abstract
This paper explores the decisions made by one secondary school in a major English city to become a co-operative academy. This school is located in an area affected by economic hardship and social and cultural tensions. The school, prior to its conversion to an academy, was well known in the local area for its commitment to social justice principles. Drawing on interview data collected from senior administrators, teachers, governors and students in the school, this paper seeks to understand why a school with a commitment to social justice would go down the academy route given the social justice concerns raised by such a move. This paper also considers if becoming a co-operative academy presents an ironic opportunity to resist many of the current regressive educational trends epitomised by academisation. This paper suggests that within the current English context, as in many other locations, a socially just approach to schooling requires alternatives to be explored and that the case study school's engagement with the Co-operative Society might present one such exploration.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the staff and students at ‘Meridian’ for their generosity of time and openness, Richard Waters for his assistance and comments, and also the helpful comments from two anonymous reviewers. I would also like to thanks KCL for providing space to write this article and in particular Tania de St Croix for her assitance in locating schools.
Funding
The research here was supported through an ARC Future Fellowship [FT110100203].
Notes on contributor
Martin Mills holds an Australian Research Council Fellowship at The University of Queensland where he is a Professor of Education. He also holds a Visiting Professorship at Kings College London.
Notes
1. Figures supplied by the Co-operative College.