CDC in VET curricula: some ground clearing and foundation building

This paper explores approaches to the integration of competencies for a democratic culture (CDC; CoE, 2017) in VET curricula through different examples from European countries. Education should prepare individuals to engage meaningfully in democratic life, which involves the cultivation of ethical and political agency, and the ability to engage in dialogue and decision-making in the public. However, the understanding of what ‘curriculum’ is varies across the world due to historical, ideological/political, social, and cultural factors. Notions of curriculum – and conceptualisations of democracy and citizenship – are contested, shaped over time by dominant curriculum ideologies and amalgamations of them (Schiro, 2012). Our theoretical perspective emphasises the curriculum as something that is created, or more aptly, ‘made’ by practitioners and other actors working with each other – not only within but also across multiple layers or sites of education systems, for example schools and district offices, policymaking arenas, and national agencies (Alvunger et al, 2021). It is recognised that in terms of curriculum what is “intended” is not always “enacted” (Billett, 2014) within classrooms and other workplaces. Much depend upon the personal agendas of teachers/trainers, students, college managers and on other actors closely involved in delivery (cf. Nylund, Rosvall & Ledman, 2017).