Cooperation at School: Why Grades and Competition Hurt Kids 2026

Cooperation at school changes the way children experience learning, and it starts with a simple question: what does competition actually do to a child's brain? In the brain, being placed in "competition" rhymes with separation and activates the same zones as disgust, while cooperation connects us to pleasure and to others. We have everything to gain by generating mutual help and communication between pupils, and between teachers and pupils.

In the first case, the risk is closing in on oneself; in the second, opening up to others. This article looks at what cooperation brings, why evaluating is not the same as grading, and how respecting different learning rhythms can transform a classroom.

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Quick takeaways

• Competition in the brain is linked to separation; cooperation is linked to pleasure and connection.
• Peer tutoring lets stronger pupils help others instead of ranking above them.
• Cooperative education supports both academic learning and social-emotional skills.
• Evaluating is useful when it informs; grading that ranks children often harms.
• Children learn at different paces and in different ways, so teaching must adapt.
• Ask whether a child "can" do something before assuming they "do not want" to.

The benefits of cooperation at school

One student, Hippolyte, puts it plainly: "Stop the grades!" In telling his own story, he describes the suffering and disgust he felt at school, an experience of a system where evaluation, as it still too often works, generates compartmentalisation, comparison and unease, among the "good" pupils as much as the "bad" ones.

And how his sky opened up the day he changed schools and was able to help classmates who were less at ease than him, rather than staying isolated in the camp of the good looking down on those stuck at zero. Nordic countries have understood the countless benefits of cooperative education and adapted their systems so that mutual help replaces competition: there too, pupils who find learning easier help those for whom it is trickier.

More than academic gains

Beyond supporting learning in every subject, this way of working develops emotional, relational and social skills such as respect and tolerance, just as fundamental and complementary to intellectual and cognitive abilities. It is a little like the shared family values we try to pass on at home, practised daily in a classroom.

Evaluating is not the same as grading

Promoting cooperation and mutual help means questioning a whole part of the evaluation system based on grading as it exists. Of course, it matters to be able to assess where a child stands with the basics that are essential in our society, such as spoken and written language and reading.

But grading too often has the pitfall of ranking pupils against each other: first and last in the class, the good and the bad, with all the known repercussions on the psychological, cognitive, relational and social development of being locked into a box, even the "good" one. Bad grades are often experienced as punishments, in the worst cases as humiliations, and too rarely as indicators of a moment in time that would help adapt the way we teach.

One standard for everyone

What about an evaluation system identical for everyone, which brings to mind Einstein's words: ask a fish to climb a tree, and you will soon think it is stupid. A flexible, informative approach to choosing extracurricular activities works the same way: you match the challenge to the child, not the child to the challenge. The same logic guides how we pick learning toys, and it echoes the questions about children's sports worth asking before any activity begins.

Differences in pace and learning style

Gaële Regnault, whose loving and attentive eye on her son with autism led her to reflect on ways to support the school and social integration of children with disabilities who learn more slowly or differently, created a social enterprise in 1992 that democratises access to the best educational strategies and fights exclusion.

She broadens the reflection on the need to take into account differences in children's pace and learning style, to respect those differences, and to adapt the way we transmit knowledge to these essential data. As Ramzy Harbi explains through his project "en piste l'artiste", the mistake is to focus more on content than on learning strategies.

The double-task principle

Caroline Huron's playful and brilliant demonstration of the "cognitive double task" principle answers a key question: can our brain do two things at once? It is a bit like the calm focus toys that let a child fiddle quietly while listening, instead of splitting attention between two demands.

Evaluation should be information only

By unsettling us and involving us in a concrete experience, and by raising questions around dyspraxia, this work informs us and alerts us to the importance of knowing and detecting learning difficulties at school. It gives us the chance to ask a formidable question: when a child does not do what we want, let us check whether they are not in a double-task situation, and ask whether they "can" do it rather than simply thinking they "do not want" to. When relatives interfere in the baby's care, the same open posture helps us stay focused on the child's needs.

Adopting an open posture centred on cooperation makes us look at things from another angle. Evaluation should be information only: evaluating to be informed of where one stands in relation to something to reach or integrate, and above all constantly asking, as teachers and parents, "how" to allow each child to acquire new knowledge and skills.

What a good evaluation looks like

So yes to evaluation when it is informative about the child's progress, yes to intelligent and flexible evaluation that accounts for each person's rhythm and abilities, and yes to a system that develops social and relational skills such as mutual help, cooperation and empathy. The same patience applies to washing plush toys or any hands-on task: adapt the method to the child, just as choosing screen free toys means matching the activity to their abilities.

Cooperating, talking to each other, working in groups

In his work, Yann Algan, an economist and wellbeing expert, speaks of "the school of confidence" and shows that academic success is linked neither to IQ nor to cognitive knowledge alone, but to an ability for tenacity and discipline combined with social skills. He too advocates a school of cooperation, of living well together and of confidence.

Cooperation, talking to one another, learning to work in a group and knowing how to listen to other people's perspectives are skills that can be practised, not fixed traits. Group work, peer tutoring and classroom projects give children regular rehearsal for these abilities, and they carry over into family life, much like the calm parental reactions that model how to handle mistakes.

Building the habit at home

You can reinforce the same spirit at home with simple routines: turn-taking games, shared chores, or team activities such as outdoor group games where winning depends on everyone. The message stays the same: the goal is progress together, not ranking above someone else.

My hands-on take

I first tried this at home without naming it. Instead of comparing my two children's reading, I asked the older one to help the younger sound out a word, and I watched the tension leave the room. The older child stopped performing for a score and started explaining, which is a far better test of understanding than any mark. The younger one stopped fearing the blank page.

What struck me most is how quickly children copy the posture we model. When I stopped asking "who finished first?" and started asking "what did you figure out?", the competition faded and the questions grew. It is not about lowering expectations; it is about aiming them at progress rather than at rank. That shift costs nothing and changes everything.

Frequently asked questions

Does cooperation at school mean abandoning evaluation?

No. The point is to separate evaluating from grading. Evaluation should inform where a child stands and how to help them progress, rather than rank them against classmates.

Why can grades be harmful even for good pupils?

Being locked into a box, even the "good" one, brings comparison and pressure. Bad grades are often felt as punishments or humiliations rather than useful information.

What is the double-task idea about?

It suggests a child may struggle because two demands compete at once, not because they refuse to try. Asking whether they "can" do it opens a more helpful path.

How can parents support cooperation at home?

Use turn-taking games, shared chores and team activities where success depends on everyone. Praise progress and effort rather than ranking against siblings or friends.