Participation is one of the pillars that underpin the health promoting school approach and SHE has defined participation as a sense of ownership by student, staff and parent.
It is important to highlight that there is a difference between token and genuine participation.
Genuine participation involves students' own construction of knowledge, open and divergent outcomes, targets individuals in their context and aims at improving students' empowerment and action competence.
The more students are involved in health projects, the more important it will be for the teacher to provide support, insight and knowledge and to facilitate the learning processes.
There is no ideal way of working with participation in a health promoting school, it should always be viewed in relation to a specific context.