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Youth; Student Council; Democratic School Management; High School; Youth Participation.
This dissertation analyzes youth participation through Student Councils in democratic and participatory school management in state public high schools in the municipality of Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. From the students’ own perspectives, the study seeks to understand under what conditions school management incorporates participation via Student Councils. The research problematizes contemporary conceptions of youth and their interfaces with education, work, and social and political participation, as well as the historical and political role of the Brazilian student movement, emphasizing Student Councils as instances of youth representation. Methodologically, the study adopts a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, combining documentary analysis of legislation, educational policies, and national and state regulations with semi-structured interviews conducted with student council members. Empirical data were analyzed based on critical theoretical frameworks addressing youth, curriculum, participation, and democratic school management. The findings indicate that although Student Councils are formally recognized as legitimate spaces for participation, their involvement in school management remains limited and marked by contradictions, tensions, and bureaucratization processes, in which youth participation is often instrumentalized or conditioned by management expectations. Students’ narratives reveal both meaningful formative experiences related to political, social, and identity development and conflicts of authority, institutional constraints, and fragilities in recognizing Student Councils as autonomous collective actors. The study concludes that the consolidation of democratic school management requires not only the formal existence of participatory structures but also the strengthening of a school political culture that acknowledges youth as producers of meanings, rights, and democratic practices. The research also highlights its limitations and points to the need for future studies that further explore the relationships between youth participation, educational policies, and democracy in the school context.