Citizenship Education Curriculum Making for Troubled Times

The rise of far-right forces in Europe, the increase in the number of illiberal and autocratic regimes, and influence operations against European democracies call for a new role of citizenship education. While education policy has previously focused on issues of justice, inequality and inclusion, the focus of new far-right parties and governments is now on curriculum content and related cultural issues. In this article, we discuss the implications of changes in the European political landscape for citizenship curriculum making. We propose a research and development approach that connects two broad perspectives − curriculum studies and critical educational scholarship − and covers three areas: study of changing concepts of citizenship and education needs of young people; analysis of factors contributing to connections and disconnections between European and national policies in citizenship education; and new models of curriculum making at the meso-sites. The necessity for broader collaboration between researchers across disciplines and national contexts is highlighted, and the potential as well as limits of the proposed approach to curriculum making in the field of citizenship education are discussed.

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