Student cooperative

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A student cooperative is a student company model in which students largely independently found and run their own company in the protected area of ​​the school. In this way they learn in a practical way how successful business works. Working according to cooperative principles also gives them the opportunity to combine their economic activities with democratic, social and ecological principles.

idea

In a school cooperative, the young entrepreneurs develop their own business ideas, organizational structures and work processes so that they can market their products or services inside and outside the school. Examples of popular variants of student cooperatives are student cafes and kiosks, the sale of school supplies or the manufacture and design of school merchandise. Other school cooperatives are involved in business areas that are associated with sustainability, e.g. B. in energy consulting, beekeeping or in the import and sale of fair trade coffee beans.

Student cooperatives are actually doing business, but are not "real" companies, but an educational project of their school. The students act largely independently, but within the supervised framework of their school. Legal issues (such as liability, hygiene, profit and turnover limits) must not be ignored by the actors.

The student cooperatives are accompanied by teachers who take on the role of learning companions and coaches and - often - by a real cooperative from the region, which supports the student cooperative in cooperative and entrepreneurial issues and provides employees as sponsors for this. The concept of student cooperatives provides that the students organize themselves as much as possible, they should take on as many offices as possible themselves and bear responsibility. In this way they also get to know the work in democratic bodies.

The decision to orient the student company to the legal form of the cooperative can be justified from an educational point of view: Student cooperatives offer great potential for combining business lessons with social, democratic and ecological issues. Through the conception as a cooperative student company, the students have the opportunity beyond their own group of employees to accept other people from the school community (e.g. classmates, teachers, parents) or people from social and public life as members. In this way, the student cooperative can develop its impact and awareness beyond the school.

structure

Various partners from across the federal states are involved in the educational initiative school cooperatives - sustainable economic activity - acting in solidarity . Various state ministries support the initiative with partnerships and patrons. The project is organized by three cooperative associations in cooperation with regional partners. The initiative is also a member of the “Entrepreneurship in Schools” initiative group, which is part of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy .

Regional project teams offer advice on legal and school organizational issues or organize competitions and events especially for school cooperatives.

So far, the initiative has been implemented in Baden-Württemberg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony. Further dissemination is sought. The responsible cooperative associations are the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative Association (BWGV) , the Genossenschaftsverband-Verband der Regions eV and the Weser-Ems Cooperative Association (GVWE) .

In their role as auditing associations , the cooperative associations check once a year whether organizational and cooperative rules and the principles of proper bookkeeping have been observed by the student cooperatives. To do this, they must be registered as members of the respective cooperative association and entered in the so-called "student cooperative register". Student cooperatives that belong to a cooperative association identify this with the addition "eSG" (short for "registered student cooperative").

Added value from student cooperatives

Working together in a student cooperative gives students an insight into the professional and working world as well as into the establishment and functioning of companies. You will get to know different areas of a company and take on tasks independently. This experience-based learning promotes valuable key competencies, provides orientation for later professional life and stimulates entrepreneurial thinking and action. At the same time they get to know the central cooperative values ​​- democracy, sustainability and solidarity with one another.

In student cooperatives, the students have their own statutes and can commit themselves to social and ecological action. School cooperatives therefore offer potential for an economic and at the same time value-based education.

Student cooperatives are anchored in the schools for several years and as permanently as possible. Their activities mostly go beyond subjects, school year changes and grades. Due to the multi-year concept, responsibility, experience and knowledge can be passed on from older to younger generations of students. Various activities and working groups in a school can be brought together under the umbrella of a student cooperative.

By accepting members beyond the group of employees (e.g. parents, classmates, teachers, public figures), larger groups of people can participate in the success of the student cooperative and have a say in important decisions. Student cooperatives can therefore influence the local environment beyond their own school.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Haarmann, Moritz Peter: Good student companies: Democratic, social and ecological. A guide for teachers, parents and company interest groups. Ed .: Chamber of Labor of the Saarland, GEW main board, IG Metall board. Frankfurt am Main / Saarbrücken 2018, p. 39-44 ( gew.de [PDF]).
  2. ^ Website school cooperatives-sustainable management-act in solidarity
  3. ↑ Patronage of the education initiative. July 29, 2016, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Entrepreneurship in schools on Unternehmergeist-macht-schule.de
  5. ^ Göler von Ravensburg, N .: Student cooperative: Special student company pedagogy. In: Geno @ school. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .