Our policy recommendation is the result of three years of research, observation, and dialogue within the Erasmus+ ARISE project – Act & React: towards Involved Students for a Democratic Europe.
It brings together insights from schools, teacher educators, researchers, and European studies on youth participation and democratic education.
Across Europe, civic engagement among young people is changing. Studies such as ICCS 2022 and the European Parliament’s report on youth participation (Deželan, 2023) show that while young citizens value democracy, they often feel underrepresented and disconnected from formal processes. At the same time, classrooms are becoming more diverse, and digital media increasingly shape how young people form opinions and act on them.
This policy recommendation argues that citizenship education must evolve. It calls for curricula that are pluralist and inclusive, that connect democracy to lived experiences, and that treat digital literacy as democratic literacy. By fostering a sense of ownership, belonging, and competence, we can help students not only learn about democracy — but live it.