Highlights • Constitutional freedom of education affects democratic citizenship education policy. • Citizenship education legislation in 2006 and 2007 placed little demands on schools. • Legislation introduced in 2021 has further specified what is expected from schools. • Studies of citizenship education in practice are largely critical of the extent to which schools teach about, through and for democracy. Purpose: This paper discusses developments in citizenship education policy and practice in the Netherlands, and outlines key challenges as faced by the different stakeholders involved. Design/methodology/approach: Our discussion is based on existing research and policy documents in the Netherlands. The authors, from three Dutch universities, are experts in the field of research on citizenship education. Findings: Promoting citizenship education in primary, secondary and vocational tertiary education in the Netherlands has been challenging, particularly in light of the constitutional freedom of education in ... : JSSE - Journal of Social Science Education, Bd. 21 Nr. 4 (2022) ...