The paper discusses the role of qualified, efficient and democratic teachers and democratic school ethos as key factors in fostering students’ citizenship engagement in European modern democratic societies.
Our concept of teacher professional development derives from a humanist and critical reflective practitioner perspective.
We focus on International and European recommendations for Education and Training for Citizenship Learning and on research data on the relation between teacher quality and students outcomes in citizenship competences.
We describe the clusters of competences teachers should develop, implement and demonstrate in their practices in classroom, in school and in the relationship with the community.
We present research data and approaches to identify effective pedagogical activities, teaching strategies and students learning activities for the promotion of citizenship and engaged civic learning and participation.
We finally remark on the threats of the current economic European and global crisis on teachers students’ perceptions on Democracy and Citizenship.
