This paper describes a research project that has its origins in a broader research programme in Citizenship Education that is being undertaken by the intercultural education research group (GREDI) at the University of Barcelona. The programme, "From school to community," is intended to serve as a framework for teaching the process of active citizenship; its objective is to help develop a feeling of belonging to a community, and to promote citizenship in secondary education through a methodology of service learning. The programme is composed of a series of activities which facilitate the involvement of the student in the community actively and cooperatively. The activities that the student is required to carry out in the course of the programme draw on citizenship competencies through the acquisition of knowledge, skills and the performance of tasks which are integral to the exercise of active citizenship. According to the authors, the application of this programme and its subsequent evaluation has enabled them to appreciate its usefulness and validity in terms of the objectives which it sets itself: the development of skills and competences for the exercise of active citizenship. During the programme's implementation, they were able to appreciate significant changes among the children who participated with respect to their relation with their class peers as well as in terms of their attitude towards responsibility, commitment, participation and their local neighbourhood. The authors conclude, given the results obtained, that the programme achieves its objectives by improving communal life in the school and by opening perspectives among the children who participate towards their local neighbourhoods and communities, perspectives which will facilitate the development of processes of "service learning". (Contains 1 box and 1 note.)