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‪This article uses Basil Bernstein’s model of pedagogic rights to describe the democratic issues at stake in continuing education for professionals working in eldercare institutions. The article highlights the interest of the Bernsteinian theoretical triptych (participation-inclusion-enhancement) as an entity and not as a series of independent indicators and shows its relevance as a tool for analysing empirical data. The research is based on data collected concerning two international training organisations offering courses in France and Switzerland to improve the quality of care. The analysis shows that, by operating as pedagogic devices, these training programmes turn the pedagogic rights of the professionals into duties for the sole benefit of enabling residents to exercise their democratic rights within institutions. Observing this hiatus between the beneficiaries (the residents) and the learners (the trained professionals) raises questions about the effective fulfilment of the pedagogic rights of those taking part in the training courses.‪