The considerable debate in recent years on the aims of citizenship education has not been accompanied by an equally substantial discussion on the educational processes involved. This article puts forward a theoretical framework, referred to as ‘curricular transposition’, for understanding the complex task of realizing normative ideals of citizenship through education. The framework highlights four stages in the educational process: the ideals and aspirations underlying an initiative; the curricular programme designed to achieve them; the programme’s implementation in practice; and its effects on students. The ‘leaps’ between these stages – involving movement between ends and means and between ideal and real – are highly problematic. These ideas are explored in the context of an empirical case: the Voter of the Future programme in Brazil. Disjunctures are observed at the different stages – in particular, a lack of ‘harmony’ between ends and means, and a lack of teacher ownership of the initiative in the process of implementation – leading to divergence between the initial aims and actual effects. Finally, broader implications of the curricular transposition framework for citizenship education are drawn out
