Exploring Student Leadership in a Co-operative School Setting: ‘Doing With’ rather than ‘Doing To’

This paper stems from a research project exploring alternative approaches to engagement that challenge the widely accepted notion that professionals “do to” students, parents and communities (Dyson and Kerr, 2013). The context of this research in an English Co-operative school provides a specific lens through which to view engagement - via the Co-operative values and principles. This paper is interested in the impact of a school aligning itself with the Co-operative values and principles; how far a Co-operative school and its students are striving to move closer to a definition of engagement as "doing with" (Ferlazzo, 2011) to develop instances of leadership relationships where students and professionals “come together and interlock”, working together in order to achieve educational purposes.