From Individualism and Competition to Cooperation and Solidarity: Can School Change This Paradigm?

• In Event: Youth Empowerment, Transformative Education, and Social Movements

Proposal

Contemporary education systems often prioritize individualism and competition, rewarding students for outperforming their peers through test rankings and university admissions. This environment creates a small number of “winners” while marginalizing many, especially those from vulnerable communities. The relentless pursuit of top performance generates stress, isolation, and a sense of failure among those who do not meet narrow academic standards, creating an increasingly divided world.
In contrast, a school environment based on cooperation and solidarity offers a more inclusive vision—where every student contributes equally to collective growth. This study explores a pedagogy that aims to shift school culture in this direction: Cooperative and Solidarity Learning (CSL). By fostering empathy, collaboration, and meaningful student–teacher and peer relationships, CSL reframes how students experience learning and belonging in school.
This one-year mixed-methods research study evaluates the impact of CSL at a public high school in northeastern Brazil, serving a predominantly vulnerable population. It investigates how first-year students navigate the transition to CSL and examines whether their learning, relationships, and sense of self evolve over the course of their first year in this new model.
The study is guided by three questions:
1. How does CSL influence students’ perceptions of learning?
2. How does CSL shape students' interactions with teachers and peers?
3. How does CSL affect students’ perceptions of their lives and sense of agency in the community?
Theoretical Grounding
CSL draws on Social Interdependence Theory and Freire’s theory of liberation.
Deutsch (1949) argued that outcomes in group settings depend on goal structures. In competitive environments, success is negatively interdependent—one person’s gain is another’s loss — fostering mistrust and isolation. In cooperative contexts, success is positively interdependent—each person’s achievement supports the group — promoting trust, empathy, and mutual support.
Building on this framework, Johnson and Johnson (1989) outlined five essential elements of cooperative learning: positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, social skills, and group processing. Research indicates that cooperative learning can enhance both academic and social outcomes, but its effectiveness depends on meticulous implementation. Studies caution that skipping foundational steps such as conflict resolution or trust-building undermines effectiveness (Buchs et al., 2017; Gillies & Boyle, 2010). Moreover, if used only as a technique to raise test scores, cooperative learning risks losing its transformative potential (Schniedewind & Davidson, 2000).
Complementing this, Freire (1970/2018) viewed education as a process of humanization—“becoming more fully human” through dialogue, reflection, and critical action. Liberation begins with conscientização: an awakening of social and self-awareness that enables people to transform their reality. For Freire, solidarity is not only empathy but a commitment to shared struggle for justice.

What Is Cooperative and Solidarity Learning?
Unlike traditional cooperative learning, CSL emerged from grassroots necessity in rural Brazil. In the early 1990s, youth in Cipó—mainly farmers and fishermen—formed study groups despite poverty and limited access to education. Their initiative evolved into PRECE (Programa de Educação em Células Cooperativas), a movement that promotes education through cooperation, community engagement, and solidarity (see www.movimentoprece.org).
By 2011, PRECE had sent over 500 rural students to college and was invited to apply its approach in a formal public school. Today, CSL integrates Johnson and Johnson’s cooperative structures with PRECE’s lived practices of solidarity. Teachers and students who once participated in PRECE now guide this public school, embedding academic rigor with collective care and long-term community engagement.
Although documentaries and local reports highlight CSL’s success—improved achievement, resilience, and civic participation—no prior study has documented how students experience CSL upon first encounter. This research addresses this gap.

Research Design
This longitudinal mixed-methods study followed first-year students across one academic year (2024).
• Quantitative data: Surveys of ~180 students at three points (January, June, November), with 15 questions on learning, school climate, relationships, and community engagement.
• Qualitative data: In-depth interviews with 10 students and classroom observations during orientation workshops.
Triangulation of these data captures shifts in student perceptions over time.

Significance of the Study
Preliminary findings suggest that CSL fosters students’ sense of belonging and agency in the classroom. However, conflict plays an important role in its implementation. Moving away from competition and individualism toward cooperation and solidarity is possible. However, it takes patience and skill that need to be constantly taught, promoted, and supported so students can fully engage and benefit from learning with peers, navigate conflict, and envision themselves as contributors to their communities.
Studying CSL offers insights into how peer-based learning can foster empathy and resilience, while also highlighting the challenges associated with its implementation. These findings can inform teacher training and policy reforms that aim to create schools founded on cooperation and solidarity, rather than exclusion and competition.

Author

• Virginia C. Gomes, University of Maryland - College Park