The Spanish educational system, within the framework of European teachings, has faced for decades the vital challenge of shaping active citizens capable of giving meaning and substance to democratic rights and institutions. Providing the educational system with resources from compulsory education is a collective responsibility that, in turn, will enable citizens to enter active life with meaningful knowledge for a public, critical, and reflective ethic. Hannah Arendt, after experiencing totalitarianism, stated that the inability to think for oneself leads to the moral and political disintegration of a society. Throughout works such as Personal and Collective Responsibility and The Origins of Totalitarianism, she also conveys the importance of defending public space and political action, as they are essential elements for democracy. This reflective learning must have compulsory education in democratic societies as its starting point, thus reinforcing the universal right to education.

Our educational system currently embraces this challenge by incorporating various strategies and subjects into the curriculum aimed at teaching active citizenship. One such approach is the implementation of subjects that directly address topics related to citizenship, ethics, and democracy. The current organic law (LOMCE) includes the subject Education in Civic and Ethical Values in both primary and secondary
education. It is taught once a week in the sixth year of primary school and in one of the secondary school years (the specific year depends on the legislation of each Autonomous Community).According to the law, “education in values constitutes the fundamental basis for the critical and responsible exercise of citizenship and for the integral education of individuals.” However, if it truly serves as the fundamental basis for such an exercise, a challenge arises: the subject is limited to just one hour per week for only one school year in each stage of education. How can we effectively train students in responsible citizenship with such minimal instructional time?

As a strength, it is true that the curriculum in compulsory secondary education also offers subjects such as Public Speaking and Debate, Philosophy and Argumentation, and Philosophy, distributed across different grade levels. These subjects directly foster critical reflection on various human issues and develop oral and written expression while avoiding fallacious biases— a risk that students face daily in their digital lives.We can consider the availability of these subjects as electives in compulsory education one of the key strengths of the educational law, as it continues to emphasize the importance of critical thinking education within the system in a direct manner. However, the main weakness is that these subjects are optional. This means that a student can graduate without ever having taken any of these courses at any point in their academic journey.

To address these challenges, the organic law also proposes a cross-curricular approach to civic, ethical, and democratic values. This approach involves all educational departments. Education in human rights, gender equality, sustainability, and democratic participation is integrated into the competencies that students must develop in each subject. In this way, the teaching of active citizenship is not confined to
a single subject but should be present throughout the entire educational experience of students.Additionally, interdepartmental projects within schools help develop and strengthen students’ competencies in citizenship and democracy—issues that are also promoted by current legislation.

These are the strengths of our educational system, which, according to the law, considers “the creation of conditions that allow students to achieve their full personal and professional development, as well as their effective participation in the social, cultural, and economic processes of transformation.” The law further states that “this is an inescapable responsibility of public authorities.”

However, to achieve this, the Spanish educational system cannot limit itself to teaching these values in the classroom; it must also combat exclusion and work to reduce early school dropout rates. Without addressing this challenge, the formation of active citizenship would not be guaranteed. This is another major challenge for the education system, which must adapt to the emerging demands of learning from a real
and social perspective.To tackle this challenge, the involvement of all stakeholders in the education system is essential, starting with families, whose participation in the teaching-learning process is crucial.

Moreover, for education in active citizenship to be truly effective, the appropriate methodology must be applied in the classroom to develop these competencies. Knowing human rights is not the same as collectively applying them in one’s environment. Ultimately, fostering critical thinking and strategies to promote social justice is what transforms schools into spaces for building democracy. Likewise, the same strengths of the system become its own challenges, as structurally, Spanish schools face deficiencies that hinder the real implementation of
the written regulations. On the one hand, there are extensive curricula and limited instructional hours to cover them. On the other hand, there is no real time available to develop interdisciplinary projects to work on these values as needed.Added to this is the high student-teacher ratio, the large number of students with special educational needs, and the lack of resources to support them adequately.

In summary, we have a law that envisions democratic competencies, but it does not provide the structures or time necessary to implement them. This turns the fundamental basis of the law into a utopian educational challenge. If education in active citizenship is the fundamental basis of our legislation, then why is it the aspect to which the least time is dedicated within the educational system? If not in schools, where else can democratic values begin to be experienced, and where will students truly understand their importance? This is the main challenge—and at the same time, the greatest responsibility—that teachers face daily in the classroom.

Citizenship should not be understood as mere theory; rather, it must be connected to the real-life issues students encounter in their daily lives. Education should equip them with the resources and skills necessary to independently navigate the social, environmental, economic, and political challenges of the 21st century. Teaching students to build their own system of values is what keeps democracy alive.