As contemporary society expects the individual to be able to participate actively in the social context, students should be directed to the development of social competence as one of the key competences of today, which includes upbringing and education for community, active participation in society, and coping with situations requiring cooperation and teamwork. In this paper, contemporary project teaching is presented as one of the possible forms of active learning that by its characteristics contributes to the development of students' social competence. The theoretical part of the paper more closely represents the project method, project teaching and social competence. After the introduction, the second chapter presents the project method as one of the answers to the old passivist school. Accordingly, the project method was introduced in the period from the second half of the 16th to the second half of the 19th century, and then in the theoretical and methodological framework of the pedagogy of pragmatism in the late 19th century. Furthermore, the child's innate instincts and types of projects, variants and stages and basic assumptions of the project method are presented. Also, the development of the project method in the 20th century is presented, and its characteristics are finally described. The third chapter presents: active learning in project teaching, goals of project teaching, stages of project teaching, sociological forms of project teaching, systematic division of projects, characteristics of project teaching, and didactic triangle. When it comes to active learning in project teaching, the definition of active learning is first given, followed by its strategies, methods and procedures, which are an important aspect of the educational process. The following is the definition of project teaching, the selection criteria and its characteristics. Furthermore, the goals of project teaching and its stages (project preparation, project work and reflection) are enacted. When it comes to sociological forms of project teaching, the project activities in the group (collaborative learning) and the students' individual activities in the project are considered. The following is a systematic division of projects, followed by describing the characteristics of project teaching (the reach and limitations, but also the social and pedagogical and psychological reasons for encouraging project teaching). Finally, within the didactic triangle, the roles of students and teachers in project teaching are described and the content of learning in the curriculum is determined in more detail by defining the curriculum, its concepts and types. The fourth chapter deals with: key competences, determination of social competence, theoretical approaches to social competence, theoretical models of social competence, prism model of social competence and its modification, construction of curriculum of social competence, curriculum approaches to social competence in Croatian documents, measurement of social competency social competences. After defining the concept of key competences, special emphasis is placed on social and civic competences and a sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, since they are closely related to the key concepts of this work - project teaching and social competence. When defining social competence, the definitions of the researcher are taken in account and at the same time the roots of this concept are reached. The following theoretical approaches to social competence are presented in more detail: behavioral, humanistic, psychological, cognitive-developmental, social learning approaches, constructivist, pedagogical and holistic approaches. The theoretical models include Guilford model, McFall model, Dodge model, Cavell model, Ford model, Marlowe model, Riggio model, Katz and McClellan model, and Goleman model of emotional and social competence. Furthermore, the model of the prism of social competence and its modification, as well as the construction of the social competence curriculum, are presented in more detail, and then social competence is analyzed in key Croatian documents. Various measurements of social competence are presented, and finally, the operationalization of the concept of students' social competence is described. The fifth chapter is Research Methodology, and the description of mixed approach research has begun. Namely, the dependent variable (indicators of students' social competence) is one exam with the lack of independence of the variable (project teaching), while the other has passed the exam in the presence of an independent variable (project teaching). It is a factorial experiment with one group, and what happens in the same class of clothing entered by the project extension (experimental factor) can influence the comparison of the impact on non-project teaching. Another use of the method in this research is simple observation, that is, observing the use of technical aids (recording non-project and project results). As you can see, this is a mixed approach research, specifically a mixed design. That is, research is based on a quantitative approach, with the qualitative approach embedded within it. Specifically, it started with a hypothesis (H0: No impact of project teaching on fourth-grade students' social competence - quantitative approach; chose appointment (suitable), relatively small sample of respondents (N = 18) - qualitative approach; data collected intensively, spending longer time with the respondents (systematic observation using technical aids) - qualitative approach; the data thus collected were used (protocol for observing students' social competencies) and processed (using Microsoft Excel computer) - quantitative approach; the results relate to the selected sample of respondents - qualitative approach. The sixth chapter presents the results and discussion of the research. The significance of the difference between non-project and project teaching was tested by t-test. The results show that the mean value is higher in project teaching, which explains that project teaching has a greater impact on students' social competence than non-project teaching. Given that the limit t = 1.74 (95% confidence) is less than the obtained t = 2.18, we can conclude that the difference is statistically significant. Therefore, hypothesis H0: There is no impact of project teaching on the social competence of fourth grade students is rejected. Fisher's exact test examined whether project teaching had an impact on students' social competence in terms of their gender and general school performance in the previous school year compared to non-project teaching. Therefore, given the gender of the student, the obtained value of p = 0,59 is greater than the value α = 0.05, which leads to the conclusion that hypothesis H0: There is no impact of project teaching on the social competence of fourth grade students given their gender is not rejected. Also, given the overall student achievement in the previous school year, the obtained value of p = 0.20 is greater than the value α = 0.05, which leads to the conclusion that hypothesis H0: There is no impact of project teaching on the social competence of fourth grade students with regard to their overall performance in the previous school year is not rejected. Within the results of the research, a description and interpretation of the social competence of each student, a description and interpretation of the project activities in the group, as well as a description and interpretation of the interaction of the class participants were made. Ultimately, the paper provided a theoretical and practical analysis of contemporary project teaching, which seeks to encourage the development of all those abilities that are expressed in students, but also to the development of their social competence as one of the key competences of today. The research is based on proven scientific methods and is supported by the findings of relevant domestic and foreign research. The seventh chapter contains the conclusion of the research, the eighth chapter contains the literature, the ninth chapter contains contributions and the tenth chapter contains biography of the author.