Reggio Emilia approach

The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy focused on preschool and

primary education. It was developed by Loris Malaguzzi, who was a teacher himself, and the
parents of the villages around Reggio Emilia in Italy after World War II. The destruction from
the war, parents believed, necessitated a new, quick approach to teaching their children.
They felt that it is in the early years of development that children form who they are as
individuals. This led to creation of a program based on the principles of respect,
responsibility, and community through exploration and discovery in a supportive and
enriching environment based on the interests of the children through a self-guided
curriculum.
History
During the post-World War II era, a desire to bring change and create a new, more just
world, free from oppression, was urging women and men to gather their strength and build
with their own hands schools for their young children.[1] With this in mind, a group of
committed parents, educators, and children in Reggio Emilia, Italy began a movement to
create a system of infant, toddler, and preschool centers. Under the leadership of founding
director and educator, Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994), they developed a philosophy that was
influenced by the surrounding culture and based on a unique view of the child.[2] In addition
to the influence of many early childhood psychologists and philosophers, such as Dewey,
Piaget, Vygotsky, Gardner and Bruner, the educators of Reggio Emilia were inspired by their
community-centered culture.[1]
Throughout the years the Reggio Emilia approach has been constantly evolving and
growing. In the late 1960s the schools were transferred to the city government for operation
and financing.[1] On May 24, 1994, the non-profit organization, Friends of Reggio Children
International Association was founded to promote the work of Loris Malaguzzi and organize
professional development and cultural events.[3] In November 2002, during the annual
conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children in Chicago the
North American Reggio Emilia Alliance was formally launched as an organization.[1] In
February 2006, the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre opened. It is a dedicated meeting
place in Reggio Emilia, Italy for professional development and research of the philosophy.
The non-profit Reggio Children-Loris Malaguzzi Centre Foundation was officially established
on September 29, 2011 at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre of Reggio Emilia with the
aim of Education and research to improve the lives of people and communities, in Reggio
Emilia and in the world.[4]
Philosophy
The city Reggio Emilia in Italy is recognized worldwide for its innovative approach to
education. Its signature educational philosophy has become known as the Reggio Emilia
Approach, one which many preschool programs around the world have adopted. The Reggio
Emilia philosophy is based upon the following set of principles:

Children must have some control over the direction of their learning;

Children must be able to learn through experiences of touching, moving, listening,

seeing, and hearing;

Children have a relationship with other children and with material items in the world
that children must be allowed to explore and

Children must have endless ways and opportunities to express themselves.

The Reggio Emilia approach to teaching young children puts the natural development of
children as well as the close relationships that they share with their environment at the
center of its philosophy. The foundation of the Reggio Emilia approach lies in its unique view
of the child. In this approach, there is a belief that children have rights and should be given
opportunities to develop their potential. Influenced by this belief, the child is beheld as
beautiful, powerful, competent, creative, curious, and full of potential and ambitious
desires."[2] The child is also viewed as being an active constructor of knowledge. Rather than
being seen as the target of instruction, children are seen as having the active role of an
apprentice.[5] This role also extends to that of a researcher. Much of the instruction at Reggio
Emilia schools takes place in the form of projects where they have opportunities to explore,
observe, hypothesize, question, and discuss to clarify their understanding.[6] Children are
also viewed as social beings and a focus is made on the child in relation to other children,
the family, the teachers, and the community rather than on each child in isolation.[7]
Community support and parental involvement
Reggio Emilia's tradition of community support for families with young children expands on a
view, more strongly held in Emilia Romagna and Tuscany, of children as the collective
responsibility of the local community. In Reggio Emilia, the infant/toddler and pre-primary
program is a vital part of the community, as reflected in the high level of financial support.
Community involvement is also apparent in citizen membership in La Consulta, a school
committee that exerts significant influence over local government policy.
Parents are a vital component to the Reggio Emilia philosophy. Parents are viewed as
partners, collaborators and advocates for their children. Teachers respect parents as each
child's first teacher and involve parents in every aspect of the curriculum. It is not uncommon
to see parents volunteering within Reggio Emilia classrooms throughout the school. This
philosophy does not end when the child leaves the classroom. Most parents who choose to
send their children to a Reggio Emilia program incorporate many of the principles within their
parenting and home life.[citation needed] Even with this bridge between school and home, many
people wonder what happens to Reggio children when they make the transition from this
style of education to a non Reggio Emilia school. The answer is that there is some
adjustment that must take place. In most school environments, intellectual curiosity is
rewarded[citation needed], so students continue to reap the benefits of Reggio after they've left the
program. The parents' role mirrors the community's, at both the schoolwide and the
classroom level. Parents are expected to take part in discussions about school policy, child
development concerns, and curriculum planning and evaluation. Because a majority of
parents are employed, meetings are held in the evenings so that all who wish to participate
can do so.
The role of teachers
In the Reggio approach, the teacher is considered a co-learner and collaborator with the
child and not just an instructor. Teachers are encouraged to facilitate the child's learning by
planning activities and lessons based on the child's interests, asking questions to further
understanding, and actively engaging in the activities alongside the child, instead of sitting
back and observing the child learning. "As partner to the child, the teacher is inside the
learning situation" (Hewett, 2001).

Some implementations of the Reggio Emilia approach self-consciously juxtapose their

conception of the teacher as autonomous colearner with other approaches. For example:
Teachers' long-term commitment to enhancing their understanding of children is at
the crux of the Reggio Emilia approach. Their resistance to the American use of the
term model to describe their program reflects the continuing evolution of their ideas
and practices. They compensate for the meager preservice training of Italian early
childhood teachers by providing extensive staff development opportunities, with goals
determined by the teachers themselves. Teacher autonomy is evident in the absence
of teacher manuals, curriculum guides, or achievement tests. The lack of externally
imposed mandates is joined by the imperative that teachers become skilled
observers of children in order to inform their curriculum planning and implementation.
[8]

While working on projects with the child, the teacher can also expand the child's learning by
collecting data that can be reviewed at a later time. The teacher needs to maintain an active,
mutual participation in the activity to help ensure that the child clearly understands what is
being "taught".
Documentation
Using a variety of media, teachers give careful attention to the documentation and
presentation of the thinking of the children. Rather than making judgments about the child,
the teacher inquires and listens closely to the children. An example of documentation might
be a book or panel with the students words, drawings, and photographs. By making learning
visible, the teachers accomplish several things. They are able to study the thinking and
feeling of the students in order to gain insight into their understanding. Also, the
documentation serves to help the teacher and other educators to evaluate their own work
and refine the curriculum accordingly. And finally, it gives parents information regarding their
childs learning experience while creating an archive for the class and school.[9]
The role of the environment
The organization of the physical environment is crucial to Reggio Emilia's early childhood
program, and is often referred to as the child's "third teacher". Major aims in the planning of
new spaces and the remodeling of old ones include the integration of each classroom with
the rest of the school, and the school with the surrounding community. The importance of the
environment lies in the belief that children can best create meaning and make sense of their
world through environments which support "complex, varied, sustained, and changing
relationships between people, the world of experience, ideas and the many ways of
expressing ideas." [10]
The preschools are generally filled with indoor plants and vines, and awash with natural light.
Classrooms open to a center piazza, kitchens are open to view, and access to the
surrounding community is assured through wall-size windows, courtyards, and doors to the
outside in each classroom. Entries capture the attention of both children and adults through
the use of mirrors (on the walls, floors, and ceilings), photographs, and children's work
accompanied by transcriptions of their discussions. These same features characterize
classroom interiors, where displays of project work are interspersed with arrays of found
objects and classroom materials. In each case, the environment informs and engages the
viewer.
Other supportive elements of the environment include ample space for supplies, frequently
rearranged to draw attention to their aesthetic features. In each classroom there are studio

spaces in the form of a large, centrally located atelier and a smaller mini-atelier, and clearly
designated spaces for large- and small-group activities. Throughout the school, there is an
effort to create opportunities for children to interact. Thus, the single dress-up area is in the
center piazza; classrooms are connected with telephones, passageways or windows; and
lunchrooms and bathrooms are designed to encourage community.[11]
Groups of children will stay with one particular teacher for a three-year period, creating
consistency and an environment where there are no added pressures from having to form
new relationships.
Long-term projects as vehicles for learning
The curriculum is characterized by many features advocated by contemporary research on
young children, including real-life problem-solving among peers, with numerous
opportunities for creative thinking and exploration. Teachers often work on projects with
small groups of children, while the rest of the class engages in a wide variety of self-selected
activities typical of preschool classrooms.
The projects that teachers and children engage in are different in a number of ways from
those that characterize American teachers' conceptions of unit or thematic studies. The topic
of investigation may derive directly from teacher observations of children's spontaneous play
and exploration. Project topics are also selected on the basis of an academic curiosity or
social concern on the part of teachers or parents, or serendipitous events that direct the
attention of the children and teachers. Reggio teachers place a high value on their ability to
improvise and respond to children's predisposition to enjoy the unexpected. Regardless of
their origins, successful projects are those that generate a sufficient amount of interest and
uncertainty to provoke children's creative thinking and problem-solving and are open to
different avenues of exploration. Because curriculum decisions are based on developmental
and sociocultural concerns, small groups of children of varying abilities and interests,
including those with special needs, work together on projects.
Projects begin with teachers observing and questioning children about the topic of interest.
Based on children's responses, teachers introduce materials, questions, and opportunities
that provoke children to further explore the topic. While some of these teacher provocations
are anticipated, projects often move in unanticipated directions as a result of problems
children identify. Thus, curriculum planning and implementation revolve around open-ended
and often long-term projects that are based on the reciprocal nature of teacher-directed and
child-initiated activity. All of the topics of interest are given by the children. Within the project
approach, children are given opportunities to make connections between prior and new
knowledge while engaging in authentic tasks...
The hundred languages of children
The term "hundred languages of children" refers to the many ways that children have of
expressing themselves. Reggio teachers provide children different avenues for thinking,
revising, constructing, negotiating, developing and symbolically expressing their thoughts
and feelings. The goal is for the adults and children to better understand one another.[1]
As children proceed in an investigation, generating and testing their hypotheses, they are
encouraged to depict their understanding through one of many symbolic languages,
including drawing, sculpture, dramatic play, and writing. They work together toward the
resolution of problems that arise. Teachers facilitate and then observe debates regarding the
extent to which a child's drawing or other form of representation lives up to the expressed
intent. Revision of drawings (and ideas) is encouraged, and teachers allow children to repeat

activities and modify each other's work in the collective aim of better understanding the topic.
Teachers foster children's involvement in the processes of exploration and evaluation,
acknowledging the importance of their evolving products as vehicles for exchange.[12]