Young people’s perceptions of school as a democratic environment daily are potentially influenced by their experiences in school (Dürr, 2004). Where schools promote relationships and behaviors based on openness and mutual respect, offer learners possibilities for active contribution to school decision-making processes, as well as participation in formal and informal governance processes, students are enabled to practice a democratic lifestyle and to begin exercising appropriate autonomy (Reilly, Niens, & McLaughlin, 2005). There is ample evidence suggesting that more democratic forms of school governance have the potential of contributing to higher levels of political engagement among students (see, for example, Mosher, Kenny, & Garrod, 1994; Pasek, Feldman, Romer, & Jamieson, 2008), and that participation in school-based activities exerts a positive influence on young people’s expectation of future civic engagement as adults (Keating & Janmaat, 2015; Schulz et al., 2024). The third IEA Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2022) asked students about their perceptions of the value of student participation at their schools as well as their willingness to become engage in school-based civic activities. Further, it gathered data about their past and current participation in a wide range of civic-related activities at school (such as voting for school councils/parliaments or becoming involved in student debates), and their beliefs in their capacity to actively become engaged (citizenship self-efficacy). Based on data from 18 countries that participated in ICCS 2022, this paper reports on students’ perceptions of student participation at school. Based on a multivariate analysis, It further analyses factors influencing students’ beliefs about the influence of student participation and their expectations to become engaged at school. Independent variables include student background (gender, SES), school context factors (e.g. perceptions of an open classroom climate and positive student-teacher relationships), civic knowledge, citizenship self-efficacy as well as previous experiences with civic engagement at school. Preliminary results show that majorities of students across countries agreed with positive statements about their influence at school. Most students also expected to participate in civic school activities such as voting or campaigning. Positive perceptions of school climate were positive predictors of students’ beliefs about their influence at school, while civic knowledge tended to be negative predictor. Both feelings of self-efficacy and positive perceptions of being able to influence school-level decisions were positively associated with students’ willingness to become engaged at school.

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