An Introduction to the Reggio Emilia Approach

Almost twenty years ago I attended an Early Childhood Association of Australia conference where I first heard about the Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education and I was instantly inspired. The fundamental ideas of the Reggio approach just made sense and reminded me very much of early childhood educational approaches of the 1970s and early 80s in small town Australia. In November 2015, I participated in an International Study Group, and I was fortunate enough to visit Reggio Emilia with two of my UWCSEA Infant School colleagues.

So, what is “Reggio Emilia”?

The Reggio Emilia Approach is named after the town of Reggio Emilia in the Emilia Romagna province of northern Italy.  The schools of Reggio Emilia began as a parent initiative out of a movement towards progressive and cooperative early childhood education, led by educator, philosopher and psychologist Loris Malaguzzi. Post World War II, parents in Reggio banded together and, with the proceeds from the sale of surplus war materials, founded the town’s first preschools. Their vision was for a new kind of school where children would be treated with respect and parents would be active participants in their child’s education. From those early schools grew the framework for a new model in education for young children. There are now over 50 publicly funded schools in Reggio that provide education for children from birth to six years. These schools have been described as among the best in the world.

What are the fundamental principles of the Reggio approach?

The fundamental principles of the Reggio Emilia Approach are identified by Louise Boyd Cadwell in her book, Bringing Reggio Emilia Home, (Boyd Caldwell, 1997).

• The Child as a Protagonist – Children are strong, rich and capable. All children have preparedness, potential, curiosity, and interest in constructing their learning. Children, teachers and parents are considered the three central protagonists in the educational process (Gandini, Edwards & Forman, 1993).
• The Child as Collaborator – Education has a focus on each child in relation to other children, the family, the teachers and the community rather than each child in isolation (Gandini, Edwards & Forman, 1993). There is an emphasis on work in small groups. The practice is very much based on the social constructivist approach model that supports the idea that we form ourselves through interactions with peers, adults, things in the world and symbols (Schein 1995).
• The Child as Communicator – This approach fosters children’s intellectual development through symbolic representations through words, movement, drawing, painting, building, sculpture, shadow play, collage, dramatic play and music (Gandini & Edwards, 2001). Children have the right to use many materials to in order to discover and communicate what they know, understand and wonder about, question, feel and imagine. They make their thinking visible through their “100 Languages".
• The Environment as Third Teacher – The design and use of space in an environment encourage encounters, communication and relationships (Gandini, Edwards & Forman, 1993). There is an underlying beauty and order in the design and organisation of the space and the equipment and materials within a Reggio inspired classroom.
• The Teacher as Partner, Nurturer and Guide - Educators facilitate children’s exploration of themes, work on short (one week) and long-term (throughout the year) projects and guide experiences of joint, opened-ended discovery and problem solving. To know how to plan and proceed with their work, teachers listen and observe children closely. They ask questions, record, respond, discover, build and test hypotheses about children’s ideas and provide occasions for discovery and learning.
• The Teacher as Researcher - Educators work collaboratively and maintain strong relationships with their colleagues, sharing information and mentoring. They engage in continuous discussion and interpretation of their work and the work of the children. They are committed to reflecting on their own teaching and learning. These exchanges provide ongoing training. Educators see themselves as researchers preparing documentation of their work with children, also considered as researchers.
• Documentation as Communication - Careful consideration and attention are given to the presentation of the thinking of the children and the adults who work with them. Teachers document the child's learning process through transcripts of their verbal language (i.e., words and dialogue), photographs of their activities and representations of their thinking in many media and are placed in folders to present the process of learning. The documentation serves multiple purposes. It makes parents aware of their child’s experience and allows teachers to better understand children, to evaluate their own work and to exchange ideas with other educators. Documentation also shows children that their work is valued. It demonstrates and shows the history of the school and the pleasure in the process of learning experienced by the children and their teachers.
• The Parent as Partner - Parent participation is considered essential and takes many forms. Parents play an active role in their child’s learning experience. The ideas and skills that the parents bring to the school and the exchange of ideas between parents and teachers, helps teachers to view the participation of families not as a threat but as an integration of different wisdoms.

Our Infant School at UWCSEA continues to be inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach and we have been exploring these ideas and principles for more than four years now. We are always thinking about ways we can apply Reggio approaches within our local context and also how to appropriately align them to our UWCSEA Curriculum standards and benchmarks.

The journey continues......

References

Boyd Cadwell, L. . (1997). Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An Innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education. : Teachers College Press.

Gandini, L. and Edwards, C., (2001). Bambini: The Italian Approach to Infant/Toddler Care. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Gandini , L. , Edwards, C & Forman, G. (1993). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education. : Praeger.

Schein, E. H. (1995). Kurt Lewin’s change theory in the field and in the classroom:
Notes toward a model of managed learning.