Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to consider the process of developing transversal key competences to achieve long term goals such as citizenship, social cohesion and lifelong learning.
I examine the role that key competences play in the recent reformed school curricula in South Tyrol, a trilingual and tricultural province in northern Italy that has just designed the curricula of primary and secondary school according to the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for lifelong learning (COM, 2006) and with the goal of rethinking the place and function of schools in the community.