The 2007 Education Act of the Republic of Kazakhstan regulates education, and defines state policy basic principles and aims to ensure citizens’ of the Republic of Kazakhstan’s constitutional rights. Main duties and rights of individuals of the educational process are legally defined. The purpose of piloting the qualitative interviews with four students and two teachers, is to understand, within legislative requirements, how they participate in secondary school processes and practices, characteristics they value, and what they consider is optimal participation. According to the assessment of the students and teachers, they are involved very little in the management of education at the government level. Their contribution is more represented at the level of the school. Teachers and students reported having confidence in their participatory relationships, characterized by good communication, and that classroom-level participation in processes and practices was good. Most students agreed their education was valuable and provided them with knowledge to join the labour market as good professionals. Teachers valued regularly engaging with professional development courses. Limitations of the study include qauntitative data is missing, and questionnaires will be developed, administrered and reported, along with voices of administrators at ECER 2013. Practical implications include further research into participation is needed.