The blows of the financial recession of 2007-09 and now the COVID-19 crisis have emboldened populist political leaders across the globe. Their platforms typically involve a mixture of nativist or nationalist tropes, often infused with hostility to refugees and immigrants and built upon foundations of racism and intolerance. The internet provides access to a hitherto unimaginable amount of information and the means for its lightning-fast dissemination, while also permitting populist leaders to spread lies and misinformation just as quickly. Also the commercial imperative in social media that clusters the like-minded, originally for the purpose of targeted advertising, also means that people are bombarded by messages confirming their beliefs, discouraging any critical discernment. One of the core social objectives of education is to prepare children and young people to become active and responsible individuals, equipped with the competences that will enable them to have a full and productive life in society. To tackle this challenge, in 2018, the Council of Europe published the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC), composed of three volumes, to strengthen the capacity of education institutions to underpin and sustain democracy in the wider society. In 2020, the council published a fourth volume of the RFCDC specifically for higher education. In this article, Tony Gallagher examines how the RFCDC provides a detailed description of the competences learners should acquire to become effective, engaged citizens, and thereby acts as a guide to educators as they plan curricula and systems for learning, teaching, and assessment.