Abstract

Despite their normative and regulatory nature, schools, as contexts for democratic education, are also places for free discussion, critical analysis and imagining personal and societal change. Under the European project CATCH-EyoU, we developed a 2-years school-based intervention with a group of Portuguese secondary school students, inspired by the approach of youth participatory action research (YPAR). Having youths as co-researchers, both conventional (questionnaires and interviews) and emergent (theatre of the oppressed, photovoice) methods were mobilised to research dating violence, a problem previously identified by them as relevant in their community. The intervention process will be described, and its potential and limitations discussed.