Over the last ten years or so, the concept of citizenship education has been present in institutional declarations and research work in education. Recommended by the Council of Europe since 1997, it is primarily the concept of Education for Democratic citizenship (EDC) that is encountered in institutional discourse and research literature. Another very present concept, active citizenship means pupil participation at various levels of society, from the class to the town. The third approach, education for global citizenship - a fuzzy concept, imported from the English-speaking and northern European worlds - tends to obliterate the political dimension of citizenship education, in the name of a universalist ideal. The way the country operates, from a political, economic or social standpoint, impacts the way that EDC is introduced into curricula or the way the school is organised. Between civic education, which can fit into the conventional educational model, and an education in active citizenship, which requires the timetables to be adapted, commitment from teachers and pupil motivation, there are many educational choices to be made, and these feature in debate and analysis by researchers. Teachers must manage the tension between seeking to standardize pupils' behaviour and getting them to acquire a critical spirit, with the collateral risks of dissension.
