‘We’re not robots!’: the interaction of co-operativism and neoliberalism for students at a Co-op academy

The debate regarding the ability of co-operativism to challenge the consequences of neoliberal policy reform in UK schooling remains concerned with the organisation and policy of co-operative academies. This article follows school research which applies a Foucauldian approach to power to explore and identify violently unequal consequences of neoliberal reform. In considering the interaction of co-operativism and neoliberalism in the experience of students at a Co-operative Academies Trust school, through semi-structured interviews with vignettes, it shows co-operativism being exploited to shape neoliberal governmentality. Whilst participants draw on their co-operative schooling to challenge notions of meritocracy and success, co-operativism is ultimately instrumental in the infliction of symbolic violence, as students self-govern towards racialised, classed and gendered ideals. Applying a Foucauldian lens and centring the experience of students are thus vital to the evaluation of co-operativism in schooling.