Several factors may lead to school disengagement and dropout. Young people are at risk of disengagement from school when their life circumstances, learning experiences or behaviours impede learning, reduce school success and discourage participation. Understanding this process can help a school identify and work with young people at risk of disengaging before this comes entrenched. Therefore, the present study was aimed to address to the research question: why do vocational school students disengage from school?

This paper reports to the stages and initial results of a study that used a sample of 30 vocational school students of the 10^th grade as co-researchers to investigate the phenomenon of engagement and disengagement at an Education and Training Centre, one of the alternative school pathways for young people available in Portugal.

Following the premises of Cook-Sather (2006), that young people have unique perspectives on learning, teaching and schooling and that they should be given the opportunity to actively shape their education, we have built a research design based on the work of Fielding (2001). A sample of 30 vocational school students of the 10^th grade was chosen and developed actitivies as Co-Researchers by answering a questionnaire and conducting a photovoice activity which aimed at understanding their perspective on the school, their learning and their community. All data was collected, analysed and coded by students in group sessions, where students engaged in a 3-stage process of analysis based on Paulo Freire’s (2005) concept of education to promote critical consciousness: selecting, contextualising, codifying. Two focus group sessions were held in order to better understand students’ perspective.

First findings of this research show that students felt empowered by the fact that they were given responsibilities towards a research aimed at understanding their perspective on disengagement and, thus, improving their learning. By analising data, students identified problems, critically discussed the roots of the situation, and named ways to change the situation, showing that when they are asked to participate in their own learning process, change can happen and schools can locally work to reduce dropout.