Education Reform Initiative (ERG) has organized the Good Practices in Education Conferences (GPEC) in Türkiye since 2004, creating a long-standing alternative platform for peer learning where educational stakeholders share and critically reflect on their projects. All applications undergo a rigorous peer-review process grounded in ethical principles, stakeholder participation -including child participation- contextual relevance, and an evidence-informed approach. Although ensuring child participation is one of the evaluation criteria, it often remains at a theoretical level. This online event responds to that gap by examining how participation is enacted. On the 20th GPEC’s keynote speech, a teacher and a secondary school student engaged in a structured dialogue reflecting on their lived school experiences. Rather than offering a polished example, this dialogue creates space to examine tensions, needs, and possibilities emerging from everyday school life. The focus is not on outcomes, but on process: how participation is negotiated, where decision-making power shifts, and how responsibilities are shared. In line with Wong et al. (2010), child participation is approached through shared control, understood as a negotiated and relational process rather than symbolic inclusion. Participation becomes visible through dialogue itself, as a structural dimension of quality educational practice.
