Journal of Co-operative Studies, 53(3), 25-29

Abstract

Whilst co-operative higher education (CHE) is an established international phenomenon which continues to gather momentum in the UK, it is under-theorised. In this paper we conceptualise CHE as a bundle of multiple, intersecting, and dynamic pedagogies and processes, centred on active learning, co-production, and trans-disciplinarity. The value of each of these is known in isolation but the total value becomes more powerful when bundled. We use the notion of a bundle to explore three themes: how we learn and make new knowledge(s), what we learn, and where we learn. Together, these make co-operative learning spaces extraordinary sites of emancipatory anti-capitalist learning. Despite the challenges co-production and co-creation present to theorising co-operative learning, we conclude that it is an urgent task if the radical potential of co-operative learning is to be realised.

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