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. After such a great and

destructive event, people believed that children were in need of a new way of learning: the

assumption was that people form their own personality during early years of development

and, moreover, that children are endowed with "a hundred languages". The aim of this approach

is teaching how to make them useful in everyday life. The program is 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, the first municipal preschool was opened, while across

Italy there was a great economic and social development: in the late 1960’s the schools

were transferred to the city government for operation and financing.

In the 1980s’ the Malaguzzi’s method was known and appreciated by many educators especially

thanks to the first exhibit opened in Sweden at the Modern Museet in Stockholm. Meanwhile,

in Italy the National Group for Work and Study on Infant Toddler Centers was formed.

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. 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. In 2003 the municipality of Reggio Emilia

chose to manage the system and the network of school services and toddler centers by

forming a sort of association: Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d'Infanzia. In this way, municipal

schools and preschools can have their independent programs and activities, but they are supported

by the public sector of the government. 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”.

Philosophy The city Reggio Emilia in Italy is recognized

worldwide for its innovative approach to education: its name comes from the city itself. The keyword

of this method is foster education, from the tender age, promoting the best possible integration

among children’s languages which, as Loris Malaguzzi said, are a hundred or more. In

this approach, there is a belief that children have rights and should be given opportunities

to develop their potential. Children are believed “knowledge bearers”, so they are encouraged

to share their thoughts and ideas about everything they could meet or do during the day.

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." 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. 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.

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. Educators have to make children aware that

respect for their similar is important because everyone is a “legal subject” and part

of a group. 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. Some parents who choose to send their children

to a Reggio Emilia program incorporate many of the principles within their parenting and

home life. 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 or parents

should be aware of pros and cons of different approaches. In some school environments, intellectual

curiosity is rewarded, 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 school-wide 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".

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

conception of the teacher as autonomous co-learner 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 meagre pre-service 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. 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 judgements about the child, the teacher inquires and listens closely to the children.

An example of documentation might be a book or panel with the student’s 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 child’s learning experience while creating an archive

for the class and school. 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 remodelling 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." 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, 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.

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. 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 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.

Conclusion Reggio Emilia's approach to early education

reflects a theoretical kinship with John Dewey, Jean Piaget, Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner, among

others. Much of what occurs in the class reflects a constructivist approach to early education.

Reggio Emilia's approach does challenge some conceptions of teacher competence and developmentally

appropriate practice. For example, teachers in Reggio Emilia assert the importance of

being confused as a contributor to learning; thus a major teaching strategy is purposely

to allow mistakes to happen, or to begin a project with no clear sense of where it might

end. Another characteristic that is counter to the beliefs of many Western educators is

the importance of the child's ability to negotiate in the peer group.

One of the most challenging aspects of the Reggio Emilia approach is the solicitation