As we move into the first of the SPIRIT toolboxes, it feels important to pause and acknowledge something that happened during the development of the project itself. Interestingly, one of our biggest discussions as a consortium was not about whether active learning matters—we all agreed that it does. The conversation centred on something much simpler, yet surprisingly more complex: what exactly do we mean by a learning activity?

The answer, we quickly discovered, depended on who you asked. Across our partner countries, educators use a variety of terms to describe similar classroom practices. Some refer to learning activities, others to teaching techniques, instructional strategies, didactic methods, pedagogical approaches or work forms. In some educational systems, these terms are clearly distinguished; in others, they overlap. None of these perspectives are necessarily wrong—they simply reflect different educational traditions and ways of describing classroom practice. We realised that, rather than searching for one universally accepted definition, what mattered most was reaching a shared understanding within the SPIRIT project itself.
For the purposes of the SPIRIT Framework, we therefore use the term learning activities as an inclusive, umbrella concept. We are referring to purposeful, interactive experiences that actively involve children in learning rather than asking them to passively receive information. Some are short techniques that take only a few minutes. Others may be more elaborate collaborative tasks, role plays, creative challenges or structured classroom experiences. Some can even incorporate games when those games are intentionally adapted to support specific learning objectives. What unites them is not their name, but their purpose: helping children engage, think, collaborate, reflect and learn through experience.
One of the ideas I appreciate most about this toolbox is its flexibility. These activities are not designed to replace the curriculum or ask teachers to set academic goals aside. Quite the opposite. They are intended to fit naturally within everyday lessons, regardless of subject, helping teachers meet curriculum objectives while also creating opportunities for children to develop the transversal skills that are so often learned through participation rather than instruction alone. A Think-Pair-Share activity in mathematics, a Gallery Walk in science, a role play in language lessons or a structured discussion in history may all look different on the surface, but they share the same educational philosophy: children learn more deeply when they actively construct understanding instead of simply receiving it.
Perhaps, in the end, the terminology matters far less than the experience itself. Children do not leave the classroom talking about whether they participated in a teaching technique or a learning activity. They remember the question that made them think differently, the discussion that changed their perspective, the challenge they solved together and the moment something finally made sense. Whatever we choose to call these experiences, that is what meaningful learning looks like. And that is the spirit in which this toolbox was created.