A specific subject dedicated to Civic Education was first introduced into the Spanish curriculum in 2006. The subject was labelled Educación para la Ciudadanía y los Derechos Humanos - Citizenship Education and Human Rights. Its introduction caused a great upheaval, especially among the Catholic and conservative sectors of society, represented in the political arena by the conservative Partido Popular. Once the latter won the elections, it reformed the previous educational legislation, targeting among other issues Civic education. In 2013, the subjects’ basic premises were thus reformulated, religion was included as an optional subject for examination in secondary education. The recently elected Socialist Government has immediately declared that it will study and reform these measures related to Civic and Religious education. Once again, education legislation stands at the heart of political clashes in Spain. These contemporary events represent a new phase in the long standing division in Spanish Society between, on the one hand, progressive forces and their perception of a universal citizenship and, on the other hand, Catholic conservative sectors of society and their sense of belonging to a community of believers. In this paper I will trace the shaping of this struggle since the return of democracy to Spain in the 1970s. However, instead of focusing on political parties and their legal initiatives, I will focus on educational civil society organisations such as associations of parents and teachers, both from the left and the right and try to analyse their strategies to advance their version of Civic education and the notion of community attached to it. The Spanish case represents a frontal clash between two well consolidated postures which enjoy wide social support and due to changes in government find their way into educational legislation. Highlighting how civil society organisations use democratic concepts such as liberty, plurality and ethics based on their notions of community in order to justify their educational ideas and practices, can contribute to understanding their role in the configuration of educational legislation.

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