Fearing youth, fostering democracy: conceptions of children and young people’s good citizenship and citizenship education in European policy (1976 – 2021)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Discussions on citizenship always reflect broader political debates on the desired moral fabrics of a society. Evolving from a merely national subject, questions on children and young people’s citizenship and citizenship education have over the past decades gained interest in European policy. Through a thematical-rhetorical analysis of European policy documents, this article engages in the European moral-political discussion on good citizenship and citizenship education for children and young people. The study shows that European conceptions of good citizenship and citizenship education fluctuate over time, responding to major societal crises. Focusing on the future of European society, European policy seems to project contemporary societal concerns onto children and young people’s desired forms of citizenship, endorsing the idea of children as citizens-in-the-making. Overall, European policy adopts a highly depoliticised perspective to citizenship that risks constricting, rather than enabling, the actual democratic citizenship of children and young people.