Abstract: Ten years on from its previous version, the new European Recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning updates some of the competences in the framework. The scenario which gave origin to EU policies for promoting European training systems capable of dealing with the challenges posed by the processes of globalization has also been partly modified and made more complex. This creates an even greater need for the development of competences to guarantee resilience and the ability to adapt to change. To what extent and in what ways has the Italian education system taken on board the perspective of competences? How successful has the challenge posed by competences been in permeating daily teaching activities at different school levels?

Keywords: learning environment, certification of competences, active citizenship, key competences, citizenship competences, knowledge.