WebSitesOfNote

John Lewis and school reform: "New Labour could learn something from Mrs Norm and Janice Turner. They both endorse the survey of Verdict research – that John Lewis is the nation’s favourite shop. Now, the important thing here is that John Lewis is a worker co-op. And it’s no coincidence that this form of ownership should be good for customers – because workers who have a stake in a firm regard customers not as an interruption to their indolence, but as the source of their livelihood. Economic research confirms commonsense – that workers who own part of a firm are more productive than workers who don’t. What could New Labour learn from this? Simple, it could encourage the spread of worker co-ops. One place to start might be school reform. Put it this way. In many businesses where professional standards and skilled employees are the key to success, employee ownership is the norm; law firms, accountants, hedge funds, vet and medical practices are routinely partnerships of professionals. Why shouldn’t this model be extended to teachers? Why shouldn’t schools be co-operatives/partnerships of teachers who compete against each other? This would have several merits: 1. The combination of co-operative ownership and competition would raise standards. 2. It would give teachers more genuine professional autonomy. 3. Grou"