In England and Wales, around 850 schools currently use co-operative values to support the curriculum design, pedagogy and structures for accountability and democracy.
The latter embraced a series of powers for local authorities and the Secretary of State to intervene in underperforming schools, classified at the time as those with the lowest grades of Ofsted Inspection outcomes.
Using these powers, a pioneer model of a foundation trust based on co-operative values was used for the first time in 2007 by Reddish Vale High School, Stockport.
These operate under a direct contractual arrangement and funding agreement with the Department for Education in England - with the local authority relinquishing powers of supervision or intervention.
In 2009, the Schools Co-operative Society[5] was established to fulfil that function, with a membership system and representatives on a national board reflecting the regions.