A range of advantages has been put forward for cooperation between educational organisations in recent years (e.g. Muijs et al 2011), and there is a growing body of evidence that collaborative arrangements and networks can have a positive impact on organisational functioning, and even on student outcomes (Chapman, Muijs & Sammons 2010).

Research has shown that a number of factor have to be in place for collaboration to be successful, such as trust between collaborators, benefits for each partner as well as for the network, and a  shared vision (Muijs, West & Ainscow, 2010). A number of factors are typically cited as being inimical to collaboration. One such is considered to be competition, typically seen as inimical or at least as a major obstacle to collaboration between educational institutions (e.g. Hargreaves, 1996).

This notwithstanding, a lot of collaboration in education does in fact take place in competitive environments. While educational theory has typically seen collaboration and competition a opposites, the business world has long known the concept of coopetition, typically defined as a relationship between two companies involving competition in some segments and cooperation in others. The concept emerged as a result of growing doubts about the sole emphasis on competition as the driver of innovation in firms. Brandenburger & Nalebuff (1996) used game theoretic concepts to challenge this view, and found that firms could in fact develop significant competitive advantage and foster innovation through a strategy that combined competition and collaboration. The term coopetition was first coined by Ray Noorda, CEO of Novell, describing it as ‘cooperation in creating value, competition in dividing it up’ (Bruno, 1993). Cooperation with suppliers, customers and firms producing complementary or related products can in this view lead to expansion of the market and the formation of new business relationships, and innovation. Coopetition is widespread across business sectors, but is particularly prevalent in the IT sector, where strategic alliances to develop new products and markets are common, and there is a growing body of research on coopetition, generally favourable to its effectiveness (Dagnino & Padula, 2002).In this paper we will study the applicability of this concept to education. We will look at a longstanding collaborative partnership operating in a context of free choice and competition for students. We will explore how the partnership has remained sustainable in this competitive context

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