The SPIRIT Framework is built around ten transversal skills that we believe can help today’s children prepare for tomorrow’s world. Rather than exploring them all at once, this series takes a moment to reflect on each one individually. Together, these ten skills form the heart of the framework: emotional awareness, regulation and communication; creativity; problem-solving; critical thinking; resilience; flexibility; curiosity, sense of wonder and openness; empathy; valuing people and nature; and connectedness. This time, we turn our attention to curiosity, a sense of wonder and openness—a skill that may feel natural in childhood, but still needs to be protected, encouraged and allowed to grow.

Children often meet the world with questions. They wonder why the moon follows the car, how ants know where to go, why people speak different languages, or what would happen if clouds were heavy enough to fall. These questions may seem small, funny or endless to adults, but they are signs of something deeply important: a mind reaching outward. The SPIRIT Framework recognises curiosity, wonder and openness as the desire to explore, learn and understand the world with interest rather than judgement. It is not only about asking questions, but about approaching new experiences, different ideas and unfamiliar perspectives with an open heart and mind.

Between the ages of six and ten, this skill is already visible in the way children explore stories, nature, science, friendships, cultures and everyday mysteries. When encouraged, curiosity becomes more than a passing interest. It supports creativity, strengthens problem-solving, deepens empathy and helps children face the unknown with openness rather than fear. A classroom that welcomes questions also teaches children that learning is not only about receiving answers, but about noticing, wondering, testing, listening and reflecting. This can happen through storytelling, hands-on experiments, nature walks, cultural exchange activities, journals, or even a simple “wonder wall” where children place the questions they carry with them.

Perhaps one of the quiet responsibilities of education is not to create curiosity from nothing, but to make sure it is not lost along the way. Children do not need to be taught to wonder; they need adults who take their wonder seriously. When we give space to their questions, we help them build a lifelong relationship with learning—one rooted not in pressure or performance, but in the joy of discovering that the world is still full of things worth asking about.