School innovation in Europe: Developing children's social competences at the Salduves Progymnasium

This intervention is an educational approach aiming at holistic pupils’ development, aimed at nurturing both cognitive and non-cognitive competences, and bring education closer to the real life context, creating space for children with different capabilities to discover themselves and experience success. The intervention has been developed in Salduves pro-gymnasium (primary and lower-secondary school) in Šiauliai, Lithuania and has been gradually implemented and embedded into school culture starting from 2008, when the new school leader came to school.

The intervention includes (among others):

• Individual Achievement Tracking (AIT) system, aimed at helping every pupil identify learning difficulties at an early stage and improve their academic, but also social, development, through constant mentoring and multi-level monitoring;
• Social competence development system, focusing on engagement of students into social activities and continuous self-reflection and assessment of the results of these activities for pupils’ and for the community around them;
• Educational projects with social partners, the goal of which is to nurture pupils’ non-cognitive competences through learning in alternative environments (e.g., galleries, university labs, etc.).