Although there are a number of theories associated with cooperative learning which share basic underlying principles, for the purpose of simplicity FQN have based the following on those advocated by Johnson & Johnson An Overview of Co-operative Learning

There are significant differences between asking people to work in groups or as part of a team and cooperative learning. The sessions are structured so that a cooperative relationship develops by incorporating the elements detailed below in the planning. The result is a group of people cooperating to achieve a common goal, by working and learning together, not a few individuals dragging a group behind them so that they can achieve success on behalf of the group.

• Positive Interdependence
  The first element requires the understanding that the individuals in the group will sink or swim together, people are linked together in activities in such a way that they perceive that they only succeed as individuals if everyone succeeds.
  
  
• Promotive Interaction – face to face
  This element requires people to focus on really working together, explaining how to solve problems, sharing knowledge and skills, discussing the concepts of the training and linking the present learning with their past experiences/learning. Promoting face to face interaction enables people to become personally committed to each other as well as their goals.
  
  
• Individual and Group Accountability
  This element is vital in the structure of co-operative learning, it focuses on two levels of accountability. Firstly the individual must be accountable for contributing their share of the work and secondly the group must be accountable for achieving the collective goals. The importance of this element is that it helps to strengthen the role of individuals by developing the understanding that by working together they can achieve more and are stronger.
  
  
• Interpersonal and small group skills
  Cooperative learning simultaneously links together task work (the job in hand) and teamwork, coupled with that is the necessity to understand that social skills have a key role. Skills such as leadership, decision making, trust building, communication and conflict management, opportunities for developing, discovering and sharing these skills are all interwoven into the structure of co-operative training.
  
  
• Group Processing
  This involves openness and honesty in a constructive and structured way, asking groups to discuss how well they are achieving their goals (as defined by the training or event in our case) and how effective developing their work relationships has been enables them to reflect on useful behaviours they might take forward and those they would like to leave behind.
  
  

Cooperative learning is a very practical way to help individuals and groups achieve more. It is by its nature an iceberg requiring a huge amount of organisation and planning to enable delivery to be truly seamless and cooperative (i.e. simultaneously doing all of the above!). That aside its value lies in the long term benefit to those, who participate and the schools, businesses and communities they are part of. The tools FQN use are practical and transferable to multiple situations and can be cascaded to encourage a more positive and cooperative environment, wherever you live, work and learn.