The term ‘Transversal skills’ entered the educational and professional debate around the 1970s, when the US Department of Defence began to distinguish technical skills, necessary to perform a specific task, from relational and transversal skills, which support effectiveness and adaptability in complex contexts. In recent decades, the importance of soft skills has grown exponentially, fuelled by an increasingly fluid, interconnected social and economic reality characterised by rapid technological change.

In a world where robotization, artificial intelligence and global transformations reshape professions and human interactions, skills such as effective communication, empathy, resilience, creativity, critical thinking and collaboration have become crucial for personal and collective success. These are not just skills useful for work: soft skills influence emotional and social well-being, a sense of belonging and the development of active and responsible citizenship.

For today’s children, who will be tomorrow’s adults, mastering these skills means being better equipped to face an unpredictable future. But how to teach them? How to make them an integral part of education in primary schools? The SPIRIT project sought to answer these questions with a unique approach based on a structured and flexible framework, capable of adapting to the needs of different pupils, teachers and cultural contexts.

At the heart of the handbook is the SPIRIT framework, a three-dimensional structure that organises the teaching of soft skills according to three main axes.

1. The 10 transversal skills – The SPIRIT research team, after surveying more than 500 teachers across Europe and interviewing developmental psychologists, identified 10 skills that are crucial for children’s well-being and resilience in a future scenario dominated by uncertainty and technological innovation.

2. Children’s age – The model takes into account children’s cognitive, emotional and social maturation, offering personalised suggestions for each developmental stage.

3. Learning activities – To make the teaching of transversal skills engaging and effective, the framework proposes the use of traditional games, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) activities and other experiential methodologies.

This cube-like structure allows teachers to navigate between the different dimensions of the model, adapting it to the specificities of their classes and the needs of their pupils, and will serve as a compass to guide them in their choice of activities. Accompanying the handbook is a catalogue of activities, tested in schools, which is intended to be an example-guide for teachers wishing to start incorporating soft skills into their teaching. 

The manual is divided into chapters designed to accompany teachers on a path of discovery and application of the SPIRIT framework:

1. Introduction – An introduction to the SPIRIT project and its context.
2. Transversal skills in primary schools – An overview of the importance of soft skills in primary education.
3. Future scenarios – An analysis of the global changes that make transversal skills essential. 
4. The SPIRIT framework – A detailed presentation of the framework.
5. The 10 Skills – In-depth descriptions of the selected skills.
6. The Age – How to adapt teaching to the different developmental stages of children.
7. How to train Transversal skills in the classroom based on the model – Ideas and practical suggestions for teaching soft skills in the classroom based on Kolb’s cycle.
8. The centre of the model: teacher self-awareness – A chapter dedicated to teacher self-awareness and its central role in the model.
9. Conclusion – Final reflections and future perspectives.

A crucial element of the SPIRIT model is the recognition of the importance of teacher awareness. Educators are not only transmitters of knowledge: they are role models, agents of change and facilitators of meaningful experiences. The chapter ‘Teacher self-awareness’ explores how teachers’ direct experience of soft skills can transform the way they are taught in the classroom.

Experiencing empathy, problem solving or critical thinking in their daily lives enables teachers to fully understand the value of these skills and translate them into effective teaching practices. In a school context, this awareness generates a more inclusive, stimulating and resilient learning environment where children and adults grow together. Teaching soft skills also means creating a safe space for error, experimentation and dialogue, and who better to guide this process than an aware and trained teacher?

The SPIRIT project is not just a model: it is an invitation to transform education. Thanks to the contributions of the participating organisations and the shared vision of a forward-looking education, this handbook and the accompanying activities manual, aims to inspire teachers and schools to become agents of change to ensure a happier future for the children of today and the children of tomorrow. We hope that each page, each suggestion and each proposed activity will accompany you on an educational journey full of discovery and satisfaction.

With gratitude,

The SPIRIT project team