Democracy at work? Rethinking student participation in school improvement

Abstract Young people are often excluded from democratic processes in schools. When involved in school improvement, students are regularly positioned as informants rather than as co-inquirers. Grounded in a pragmatist perspective and drawing on the concepts of weak and strong democracy and collective habits, this empirical study examines the conditions that constrain and enable student participation in school improvement. The study focuses on two Swedish municipalities – spanning compulsory, upper secondary, and adult education – that have initiated efforts to institutionalise student participation in school improvement work. It examines which collective habits among school professionals (principals, middle leaders, and teachers) constrain such participation and interprets these dynamics through a democratic lens. Six habitual practices are identified: initiating , organising , acquiring propositional knowledge , transferring , interest alignment , and predetermining agendas . These habits reflect a weak conception of democracy in which improvement is done to students rather than with them. The study argues that stronger democratic forms of participation may require democratic leadership, collaborative improvement practices, and a balance between the purposes of education.