Student‐led conferencing as democratic practice

School conferences, in which teachers meet with parents and students, have long been criticised for being an undemocratic practice. Traditionally, such conferences have been organised and governed by the teacher. However, in recent years, student‐led conferences have become more common in Swedish schools. The present article focuses on eight such conferences in a sixth grade class. The results show that the students became more visible during student‐led conferences and that the conversational climate became more open. However, the teacher still controlled the conferences in a number of ways: (i) she alone decided the seriousness of the various problems discussed, (ii) she often manoeuvred the students towards certain desirable answers and (iii) she almost always had the last word. Moreover, as students were constantly asked to assess their own culpability in relation to various problems, a strong individualistic focus prevailed.