“We have a say in the matter”: students’ voices in school self-evaluation

School self-evaluation processes are recognized as central instruments of democratic school management and self-regulation, with significant potential to promote continuous improvement in educational quality. Within the field of educational administration, research on how student participation can be integrated into and transform these processes—thereby granting them a more democratic and emancipatory character—remains limited. This article analyzes and discusses the role of participation and student voice in the construction of school self-evaluation practices. It draws on a documentary and interpretive analysis and is complemented by qualitative data from a broader study on student participation in school governance, particularly in administrative and management bodies. The analysis of self-evaluation reports from four Portuguese schools, along with interviews with principals and teachers and focus groups with students, enabled exploration of how student participation is recognized, encouraged, and incorporated into internal evaluation processes. The results reveal different levels and types of participation, ranging from occasional consultations to active involvement in decision-making, highlighting persistent tensions between regulation-driven and accountability-oriented self-evaluation practices and more democratic, emancipatory forms of engagement. When students are heard and their perspectives valued within the school's governance and organizational practices, self-evaluation can take on a more formative, collaborative, and transformative meaning while simultaneously reinforcing collective commitment. In this sense, school self-evaluation with student participation emerges as a potentially central space for the democratic development of schools, closely linked to school improvement and student emancipation through a shared process of reflection and action.