Citizenship Education Curriculum Making for Troubled Times

Abstract

The rise of far-right forces in Europe, the increase in the number ofilliberal and autocratic regimes, and influence operations against European democracies call for anew 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 curriculumcontent and related cultural issues. In this article, we discuss the implications of changes in theEuropean political landscape for citizenship curriculum making. We propose a research and developmentapproach that connects two broad perspectives - curriculum studies and critical educationalscholarship - and covers three areas: study of changing concepts of citizenship and educationneeds of young people; analysis of factors contributing to connections and disconnections betweenEuropean and national policies in citizenship education; and new models of curriculum making atthe meso-sites. The necessity for broader collaboration between researchers across disciplines andnational contexts is highlighted, and the potential as well as limits of the proposed approach tocurriculum making in the field of citizenship education are discussed.