This paper aims to reflect the role of citizenship education in the Portuguese school curriculum, about the conceptions and teacher's practices in this area. We intend to present some result of a collaborative action research, which we developed in the realm of a PhD project about The Ethic of Responsibility in Citizenship Education.

In the 21st century, citizenship education becomes an important pillar of the educative process. The goal of this process is educating the student for being active and responsible citizen.

The active citizenship education cannot be limited to instruction on civics, but must be understand as a global and integrated process, based on an ethics of responsibility, which aims at educating the citizen by taking the dynamic unity of the self into consideration, both at the individual and at the community level.

Considering the demands of citizenship education in the contemporary society, it is important to engage teachers in collaborative action research projects, which allow them to (1) reflect on their approaches to citizenship education and (2) foster innovation of their theories and practices in that domain.

This collaborative action research was take place in elementary school from Terceira Island, with ten teachers of two councils – one from the eighth and one from the ninth grade.

Atweh, B., Kemmis, S. & Weeks, P. (1998). Action research in pratice. New York: Routledge. Carr, W. & Kemmis, S. (1988). Teoría crítica de la enseñanza. La investigación-acción en la formación del profesorado. Barcelona: Martínez Roca. Cortina, A. (1997). Ciudadanos del mundo: hacia una teoría de la ciudadanía. Madrid: Editorial Alianza. Cortina, A. (1999). Los ciudadanos como protagonistas. Barcelona: Galaxia Gutemberg Circulo de Lectores. Cortina, A. (2003). Ética global de la responsabilidad. Revista Portuguesa de Filosofia, tomo LXI, Fasc. 1. Day, C. (2001). Desenvolvimento profissional de professores. Os desafios da aprendizagem permanente. Porto: Porto Editora. Giroux, H. (1981). Ideology culture and the process of schooling. London: Falmer Press. Giroux, H. (1993). La escuela y la lucha por la ciudadanía. Madrid: Siglo Veintiuno de España. Zeicnher, K. (2009). Teacher education and the struggle for social justice. London: Routledge.