Throughout this series, we’ve explored the ten transversal skills at the heart of the SPIRIT Framework and reflected on why they matter. But an important question naturally follows: How do children actually develop these skills? The answer is both simple and profound. Children do not become resilient because someone explains resilience to them. They do not become empathetic because they memorise its definition. They develop these qualities by experiencing them, reflecting on them and gradually making them part of who they are.

This understanding lies at the heart of the SPIRIT approach to learning. Rather than treating transversal skills as concepts to be taught through instruction alone, the framework encourages teachers to create meaningful experiences that children can actively participate in. Drawing on Kolb’s Learning Cycle, learning becomes a continuous process of experience, reflection, understanding and action. A child might first work with classmates to solve a challenge, then pause to think about what happened, discuss what they discovered about teamwork or communication, and finally apply those insights the next time they face a similar situation. In this way, learning becomes something children live rather than something they simply receive.

Perhaps this is one of the most important shifts in perspective. Teaching a transversal skill is not about delivering another lesson; it is about creating the conditions in which that skill can grow. Games, stories, collaborative activities and thoughtful conversations are not separate from learning—they are often where the deepest learning happens. Every experience becomes an opportunity to practise, every reflection an opportunity to understand, and every new attempt an opportunity to grow. Little by little, knowledge becomes behaviour, behaviour becomes habit, and habit begins to shape character.

As we move into the next stage of the SPIRIT journey, we’ll begin exploring the activities, games and classroom experiences that bring this philosophy to life. Because perhaps the most meaningful learning does not happen when children can explain a skill. It happens when they begin to live it, often without even realising they are doing so.