My involvement in student organisation began in Portugal, when I was in high school. I was frustrated by the absence of a national structure for school students. Seats that were legally reserved for high school students, including in the National Council of Education, remained empty simply because no national union existed. At 17, I decided to help found a Portuguese National Federation of School Students. It was during this process that I first learned about OBESSU, at the European level. After finishing high school, I stepped away from student organising. Two years ago, while looking for work in Brussels, I came across an open position at OBESSU related to membership work. It connected directly to my earlier experience, and I returned to student representation from a different position. 

For us, meaningful student engagement is simple in principle but difficult in practice. Nothing should be discussed about students and youth without them being at the table. For high school and VET students, this remains a challenge. While it is widely accepted that university students should participate in decision making, school students are still often treated paternalistically, largely because they are minors. We also insist that participation must be real. Being present is not enough. When student involvement becomes symbolic: when we are invited only for visibility or legitimacy we withdraw. If participation is not meaningful, it has no value for us. In recent years, progress has slowed. Across Europe, civic space has been shrinking, affecting youth organisations and civil society more broadly. For school students, this has meant fewer opportunities to engage and increasing limits on the issues they are allowed or encouraged to raise. As a result, meaningful participation has become more difficult at both national and European levels. 

OBESSU works to support its members in two directions. We collect the positions of national student unions and bring them to European institutions and the Council of Europe. At the same time, we bring information, outcomes, and opportunities from European advocacy back to our members. Capacity building is central to our work, as our membership is highly diverse and operates in very different national contexts.

One of our most significant achievements is the Declaration of School Student Rights. Nearly twenty years ago, OBESSU collectively drafted this declaration to define a shared baseline for student rights across Europe. It has since been reviewed twice, most recently in 2019. In several countries, students used the declaration to engage directly with governments and ministries of education, influencing national legislation. This showed how European-level advocacy can lead to concrete legal change.

Looking ahead, two priorities remain clear. Policymakers must genuinely involve young people, and this cannot be assumed. In some countries, participation is stagnating or even declining. At the same time, involvement must not be tokenistic. Pretending to listen to students while ignoring their concerns creates frustration and undermines trust. What we continue to advocate for is full, meaningful participation in decision-making at all levels, from the local to the European. 

The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions (OBESSU) is the platform for cooperation between the national school student unions active in general secondary and secondary vocational education in Europe. It was founded in April 1975 in Dublin, Ireland and brings together Member, Candidate and Affiliate Organisations from all over Europe. All Member Organisations are independent, national, representative and democratic school student organisations.