The Origin of the Robert Owen Group and the Development of our School Centred Approach to Initial Teacher Education

History: The Robert Owen Group essentially grew out of a Vocational Preparation Consortium of Herefordshire schools and colleges formed in academic year 1981-1982 and this in turn formed one of the fourteen national pilot centres for TVEI (Technical & Vocational Education Initiative) in September 1983 through to July 1988. After a year’s period of TVEI Related In Service Training (TRIST) the Hereford & Worcester TVEI Pilot Project in turn became part of the Hereford & Worcester TVEI Extension Project in 1989 and this ran through to July 1995. In academic year 1991-1992 Hereford and Worcester County Council in partnership with Hereford & Worcester Training & Enterprise Council and the Department of Employment offered the Herefordshire high schools and colleges the opportunity to take up Coopers & Lybrand consultancy on future consortium working. This led to the setting up of the Marches Consortium 1n 1992 as a co-operative organisation of Herefordshire high schools, colleges and statutory bodies within an Industrial & Provident Society structure. Over time other co-operatives were added leading to the creation of the Robert Owen Group as the umbrella organisation for the co-operative family.

What we believe is special about us:  We have had a thirty year history and culture of helping schools and colleges to work together within a co-operative membership structure. As a member based family, member engagement is at the heart of all we do. It was the inspiration and drive of our members that started us on the path of becoming an accredited teacher training provider in December 1997. Our members own us and they engage with us through a number of routes:

ü  Our Annual General Meetings & governance structure

ü  Our Members’ Council

ü  Our Co-operative Learning Hubs

ü  Our quality systems

ü  Our partnership arrangements

ü  Direct communications such as Keynotes

ü  Our conference and seminar programmes

We have established that the Values & Principles of the International Co-operative Alliance go to the very heart of all that we do through our networks of Co-operative Schools. These can be summarised as:

Co-operative Values: Self-help; self-responsibility; democracy; equality; equity & solidarity

Ethical Values: Honesty; openness; social responsibility; caring for others

Co-operative Principles: Voluntary & open membership; democratic member control; member economic participation; autonomy & independence; education, training & information; co-operation amongst co-operatives; concern for community.

Why School Centred Initial Teacher Education: When the SCITT Programme was launched by the TDA in the 1990’s it was only natural that our members would look towards Gloucester City and the innovative Gloucester Initial Teacher Education Partnership (GITEP) which was running in partnership with the then Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education. The Marches Consortium SCITT was launched with its first cohort of twenty five secondary trainees in September 1998 in partnership with the same college of higher education and with close developmental links to GITEP. Over time the West Mercia Consortium was added as an Early Years provider and the Robert Owen Consortium was developed as a provider of Employment Based Routes into ITE. Initially the TDA insisted that all three consortia be kept as separate legal entities but later the TDA requested that they be brought together by September 2010 as one integrated ITE Scheme. This integration process is now complete.  

The hands on, school based and school owned ITE sits comfortably with the Group’s Vision for schools and communities. Co-operative learning and the sharing of experience held together by a common bond of trust and loyalty go to the very core of our ITE provision.

Our core beliefs for ITE summarised:

Ø  Co-operation

Ø  Loyalty

Ø  Altruism

Ø  Reciprocity

Ø  Solidarity

Ø  Trust

If anyone has any memories to contribute to the development of the History of the Robert Owen Group please contact Lesley Keay at lkeay@robertowen.org or by telephone on 01568 615510

The UN Millennium Development Goals and Co-operation

I promised readers that the next Blog would focus on the eight Development Goals of the UN Millennium Declaration and I am grateful to those of you who have made contact to share your thoughts. These Goals can be quite simply stated as:

·         To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

·         To achieve universal primary education

·         To promote gender equality and empower women

·         To reduce child mortality

·         To improve maternal health

·         To combat HIV/Aids, malaria and disease

·         To ensure environmental sustainability

·         To develop global partnership for development and address the needs of the least developed countries.

I am sure that my Trustee and Director colleagues within the Robert Owen Group would sign up to these and I have little doubt that each of our members would find common ground with each of the Goals. We are told that within some of the aspirations there has been heartening progress with 98 million less hungry people in the past year; 90% of countries making progress towards primary education; progress made towards gender parity in primary education; child mortality rates falling from 100 deaths per live births in 1990 to 72 in 2008 meaning that the number of under-fives dying globally fell from 12.5 m to 8.8 million; progress made on maternal health still varies widely but in about one-third of developing countries, skilled health workers now attend 95% of all births with nearly 20% having almost universal access; in the area of HIV 26% of countries have seen HIV infection rates drop with 41% recording no change with progress on malaria; there has been huge progress on access to clean drinking water with deforestation declining but carbon dioxide emissions are now projected to rise again; debt levels have dropped and 40 countries are now eligible for debt relief but the financial crisis has hit the least developed countries the hardest.

At one level it seems encouraging but there are two clear reasons for each of us to be  concerned:

• The numerically large number of our brothers and sisters caught in the net of none or little progress in each and in many cases all of the targets
• The prospect of standstill or regression in all of the targets because of the worldwide economic recession.

This budget week set in the context of the Government’s drive towards the UK Big Society is a good time to focus on these Goals and to reflect on the poverty within our own UK society, how this blights a large number of lives and impacts on a wide range of human performance. We might then consider what solutions and lessons we may learn from other countries – both developed and developing.

Well the co-operative solution is being trotted out at every opportunity as the way to deliver the UK Big Society. I am sure that the newly arrived enthusiasts for this approach understand that there are certain common concepts for all co-operatives worldwide and throughout history and these can be simply stated as:

·         Democracy

·         Equitability

·         Mutuality

·         Economy

The diehard co-operators amongst our members and readers will quite rightly scream Co-operative Values & Principles and, for the uninitiated, these can be found on the Robert Owen Group website. However, those of us who have rolled up our sleeves and are trying to deliver the Big Society on a day to day basis may take a more cynical view of the aspirations and values of those newly arrived at the co-operative table.

Francis Maude, Cabinet Minister, believes that a significant number of today’s public servants could be engaged in mutual organisations running their services on contract before the end of the current Parliament. Well Francis, whilst not doubting for one minute the strength of your beliefs, you need to know that there are an uncomfortable number of public servants who see the Big Society as merely re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titantic in order to preserve their jobs, their status, their remuneration and their conditions of service. Since autumn 2010 we, in the Robert Owen Group, have invested staff time, energy and resources in helping local authorities develop co-operative models to deliver a number of public services only to find that the model once developed is seized by the public servants and the Big Society becomes the Bugger Off & Thank You Society. Partnership becomes very much a one way street.

There is no existing infrastructure to support the setting up of public sector co-operative organisations and little muscle to support prevailing co-operative ideologies and loyalties. There are different co-operative and mutual models and a wide range of international experiences. In the Group’s short and painful experience local authorities and the Coalition Government do not understand the difference between mutual and private businesses. There must also be a clear understanding that co-operative and mutual organisations have to earn their keep as viable and vibrant businesses.

Back to the Millennium Development Goals which impact on all our lives and as the Coalition Government reduces our public sector, poverty in UK society will without doubt increase. How we fill the gap and improve the lives of Our People is going to occupy our minds as co-operators but we can be sure there is a job to be done on our public sector colleagues before the Co-operative Solution can impact.