My Co-operative Adventure

Co-operatives and credit unions are an important part of the mix of economic activity in communities. Saskatchewan has a strong history of co-operation, even prior to incorporation as a province. Aboriginal people worked together, sharing knowledge and traditions. When settlers arrived, people continued to work together for the benefit of all. Today, co-operatives and credit unions continue to collaborate with each other and with their communities. Many co-operatives and credit unions are our province’s largest and most successful businesses and many other sare some of our smallest businesses. No matter the size, co-operatives exist to meet member needs.

Our goal in developing My Co-operative Adventure: Entrepreneurship 30 is to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about co- operatives and to consider a co-operative as an option for business development, whether in Entrepreneurship 30 or when they launch enterprises later in life. Co-operatives can be developed to meet almost any need. This resource will broaden student understanding and awareness of ways that co-operatives can help them meet their needs with each lesson building on the one prior.

This resource has been designed to meet the objectives of Module 5: Business and Co-operative Development in Entrepreneurship 30. It may also be used as a lead-in to Module 13: Planning a Venture. In addition, the first two lessons of this resource link to Unit Two of Social Studies 30,
under the Knowledge Objective sub-heading of Co-operative Movement.

My Co-operative Adventure: Entrepreneurship 30 begins with an introduction to the co-operative principles, followed by students learning about the types of co-operatives, assessing their community’s assets and needs, and leads up to students developing and pitching their own co-operative business idea. It includes teacher background information, step-by-step lesson procedures, and appendices to enhance learning. SCA and PLEA believe that teachers are the professionals best suited to facilitate student learning. As such, these lessons are not meant to be prescriptive but instead a suggested approach to their corresponding curricular areas.