Focusing on vocational education and training (VET) learners is important, because on average, 50 percent of young people engage with VET in Europe at the upper secondary or tertiary level. Also, Hoskins et.al. (2016) suggest that VET-learners, especially those in initial VET-programmes, may have lower political efficacy, lower probability of voting or participating through other types of democratic engagement. By fostering democratic citizenship competencies in VET and creating opportunities for learners’ participation, we can encourage them to become active participatory citizens who could contribute to the betterment of society. Concepts such as participation and voice have many interpretations (see for example Graham et al., 2018; Jones & Hall, 2022). Voice and participation are often discussed together. Participation can be understood at different levels and many models and illustrations have been developed to explain and assess participation and voice, for example by ranging participation from tokenistic involvement to full empowerment (Rudd et.al. 2006), or by categorising different forms of participation in Roger Hart’s ladder of participation (Hart, 1992). In recent years, a strand of research within participation and voice have come to consider student voice from the framework of intergenerational dialogue, in which the dialogue is considered key and the effort to develop more egalitarian relationships within schools. In our presentation, we consider voice as integral to participation. In this presentation we focus on IVET learners and their opportunities to engage with activities that might lead to the development of their democratic citizenship competencies. Specifically, we focus on two research questions: 1. How do existing participation processes and structures in workplaces and learning institutions help develop CDC in IVET? 2. How does participation support IVET learners and encourage them to engage in democratic processes and develop democratic behaviour? What are the barriers for learner’s participation in activities that develop CDC? To answer our research questions we conducted desktop research and drew on conversations with experts to identify examples of VET learners’ participation practices in VET schools, in the workplace and through a range of representative bodies. These examples will come from a range of European countries, such as England and Norway. We will discuss challenges of participation, such as power imbalances, conflicting priorities and safe places for discussion. We will argue that even if not all VET schools, training organisations and companies are necessarily democratic organisations, they have considerable potential to develop democratic citizenship competencies for IVET learners.

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