[2][3][4][5] While at Lehigh University at the beginning of the 20th century, Herman Schneider (1872–1939), an engineer, architect, and educator, concluded that the traditional learning space or classroom was insufficient for technical students (Smollins 1999).
In 1905 the UC Board of Trustees allowed Schneider to "try this cooperative idea of education for one year only, for the failure of which they would not be held responsible".
(Smollins 1999) In 1926, Dean Schneider invited those interested in forming an Association of Co-operative Colleges (ACC) to the University of Cincinnati for the first convention.
The need for professional support of non-engineering programs became obvious, and the membership of ASEE, in 1963, began the Cooperative Education Association.
[8] In 1979, educators from Australia, Britain, Canada, and the United States (Northeastern's President, Kenneth Ryder), met to discuss work-related programs in their respective countries.
Cooperative education is common in most Australian high schools and has been integrated into many university courses as a part of making up final grades.
Large companies who annually employ many students include Aldi, Bayer, Daimler, Deutsche Bank, Henkel, Hochtief, Lufthansa, Peek & Cloppenburg, SAP, Siemens, and Volkswagen.
[22] Jones explained the results of her study emphasizing the importance of relationships with supervisors as mentors, who pushed learners beyond their comfort zones.
[22] A study carried out by Tsang and others[23] examined the effects of cooperative learning in a science class teaching quantitative reasoning skills.
From its beginnings in Cincinnati in 1906, cooperative education has evolved into a program offered at the secondary and post-secondary levels in two predominant models (Grubb & Villeneuve 1995).
Thus, like school-to-work (STW), the co-op model includes school-based and work-based learning and, in the best programs, "connecting activities" such as seminars and teacher-coordinator work site visits.
Beyond informal and anecdotal evidence, however, a familiar refrain in the literature is the lack of well-done research that empirically demonstrates these benefits (Barton 1996; Wilson, Stull & Vinsonhaler 1996).
Other deterrents may include financial barriers, aversion to moving frequently due to family obligations, or other pressures as well as difficulty managing the job search during a school semester.
Despite these problems, there is optimism about the future of co-op education; "Social, economic, and historic forces are making cooperative education more relevant than ever" (Grubb & Villeneuve 1995, p. 17), including emphasis on university-industry-government cooperation, a fluid and demanding workplace, new technology, the need for continuous on-the-job learning, globalization, and demands for accountability (John, Doherty & Nichols 1998).
Federal investments in school-to-work and community service have resulted in a number of initiatives designed to provide "learning opportunities beyond the classroom walls" (Furco 1996, p. 9).
Because this has always been a principle of co-op, the field is in a position to capitalize on its strengths and the ways it complements other experiential methods in the effort to provide meaningful learning opportunities for students.
[27] The Bergen County Academies, a public magnet high school in New Jersey, utilizes co-op education in a program called Senior Experience.
This program allows all 12th grade students to participate in cooperative education or an internship opportunity for the full business day each Wednesday.
Examples of learning outcomes include: social responsibility, intellectual growth, leadership development, appreciating diversity, collaboration, career and educational goals, self-awareness and clarified values.
[29] CSL placements at Wilfrid Laurier University last approximately 10 weeks and typically involve attending a community organization for two hours/week.
The negative implications do not fully compromise the number of students undertaking the study, but rather how the programme will affect the government's future funding for education.
[31] For students who attend school and also participate in the cooperative education programme, commonly called Work Placement or VET courses, they are no longer eligible to be granted direct entry into university.
This then gives the student an option of TAFE entry, a university certified bridging course or go on to full-time work after completion of graduation.
Barton (1996) and Wilson, Stull & Vinsonhaler (1996) identify a variety of work-based learning activities taking different names: co-op, internships, externships, apprenticeship, career academies, etc.
At LaGuardia, the required co-op seminar helps students make connections by giving them a structure within which to reinforce employability skills, examine larger issues about work and society, and undertake the crucial activities of critical reflection (Grubb & Badway 1998).
This "informal culture of expectations around work-based learning may be more powerful in the long run than a complex set of regulations and bureaucratic requirements" (Grubb & Villeneuve 1995, p. 27).
"The only way in which STW programs can find a permanent place in schools and colleges is for the work-based component to become so central to the educational purposes of the institutions that it becomes as unthinkable to give it up as it would be to abandon math, English, or science" (Grubb & Badway 1998, p. 28).
She asserts that it is time for cooperative education to develop and define its body of knowledge, investigate its unique phenomena-e.g., the concept of learning from experience, and clarify and strengthen the qualifications of co-op practitioners.
For Ricks (1996), cooperative education is inherently committed to improving the economy, people's working lives, and lifelong learning abilities.
Cates and Cedercreutz (2008) demonstrate that the assessment of student work performance as pursued by co-op employers, can be used for continuous improvement of curricula.