During the last 60 years, Europe has faced a series of democratization processes that have generated profound social and political transformations and a strong emphasis on the role of education in promoting a European and democratic citizenship. However, and in spite of its authoritarian past, Portugal has witnessed a strong inconsistency of educational policies in this domain, with moments of intense emphasis on encouraging citizenship that are followed by periods of complete devaluation with a 'back to the basics' approach. However, there is almost no research on the impact of these changes in the daily life of schools. This paper describes a research that involved Portuguese pupils in the construction of community profiles in the past, present and future of democracy and participation. Community profiling involves pupils in a participatory research process in which they collect - through document analysis, interviews, or questionnaires - and analyze data on opportunities for citizenship, now and in the past, and they reflect over possible evolutions in the future. The analysis of the process and its impacts on pupils is based on interviews with teachers and pupils, suggesting a strong commitment. The research also reveals how citizenship learning can be a space for resisting education policies in the daily life of schools.
citizenship education; community profiling; learning democracy; participation
