Principles of Reggio Emilia approach to Early Childhood

RE Provocations 19 March 2011 Cheryl Greenfield

The city received the highest military decoration for the role its citizens the partisan movement in W.W.2

Reggio Emilia was liberated on April 24th 1945

Reggio citizens fight for democracy until 7th July 1960

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The April 1960 uprising showed to the world that not all Italians agreed with the fascist rule proved that Italians were even prepared to fight against Fascist rule at great cost to themselves.

Casualties from the uprising amounted to: ◦ Approximately 44,700 Italian partisans killed ◦ Approximately 21,200 Italian partisans wounded or disabled ◦ Approximately 15,000 Italian civilians killed in retaliations ◦ Approximately 40,000 former Italian soldiers died in concentration camps

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Beginnings of the republic of Italy and Italian national flag in 1797 Roman Catholic Church controlling education Movement for Cooperative Education (1951) led by Bruno Ciari ◦ Loris Malaguzzi was a member ◦ Stressed the importance of the physical environment ◦ Two teachers to 20 children in a classroom so they could collaborate

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1945 in Villa Cella - a small community outside of the city No teacher, a few bricks and beams from bombed dwellings, and an abandoned tank they sold Land donated by a farmer A determined visionary band of volunteers A school created out of the rubble A time of extreme poverty but ◦ Nothing without joy

Piaget

Pestalozzi Rousseau

Montessori

Vygotsky

Ferrière Bruner

Gardner

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Administration of the first non-catholic or state preschool started in 1963 First infant-toddler centre in 1970 Committed to reforming education in the early years Accepted vision of Loris Malaguzzi ◦ Vision of a public system that aims to combine the child’s welfare, education and fundamental rights with the social needs of families.

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Today – 36 centres

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Awareness that children needed to be prepared for a life of democracy Society needs to acknowledge and respond to the uniqueness of each child Communication between families, children and teachers important Collegiality and relationships paramount A child centred philosophy Progressive thinking Commitment to research and experimentation sustained by ongoing staff training The presence of the atelier Reciprocal relationships with the outside community

Meta-cognition Sense of incompleteness Questions

New thoughts, new actions

Reflection

Thoughts

Community and Participation

Welcome to Reggio Emilia

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Children

â—Ś To be recognised as both source and constructors of their own experience â—Ś To realise and expand their potential, placing great value on their ability to socialise, receiving their affection and trust, and satisfying their needs and desire to learn

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Parents ◦ To participate actively in the education of their children

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Teachers and workers ◦ To contribute to the study and preparation of the conceptual models that define educational content, objectives and practices through open discussion and in harmony with the rights of others

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School

◦ To their own environment, their own architecture, their own conceptualisation and utilisation of spaces, forms, and functions ◦ To be recognised has being a motivating and animating force in creating spaces for relations, options, and emotional and cognitive situations that produce a sense of wellbeing and security

The pre-schools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia do not provide a model, but rather the opportunity to reflect on our own educational theories, practices, and methods of organisation (Millikan, 2003)

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The aim of the Reggio Approach is to promote children’s education through the development of all their languages: expressive, communicative, symbolic, cognitive, ethical, metaphorical, logical, imaginative and relational

The environment should act as an aquarium which reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and culture of the people who live in it. This is what we are working towards ( quotes from Loris Malaguzzi)

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Children’s own timing and rhythm demand enormous respect and they need the support of adults in order to combat the enormous accelerating pressures and haste to make them grow up

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We believe the brain is not imprisoned by genes, that thought can be modified inasmuch as it interacts with the environment and that intelligence is the result of the synergistic cooperation of various arts of the brain (Malaguzzi)

Pedagogy of Listening Ability of teacher to hear those vital and significant events as they appear, around which the teachers intervention is organised

Teachers and parents alike must open themselves to wonder and emotion, staying close to children, sharing joy and the pain, arguing, discussing and then again laughing, playing, searching together.

In this way both children and adults acquire together greater security and a deeper sense of identity, learning how to place their own thoughts and ideas in confrontation with those of others (re-child, 1996, p.3)

Your image of the child determines your pedagogical practice

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Buzzeli (1996) states that the role of early childhood educators is to:

◦ provide experiences which acknowledge children as capable, enthusiastic learners ◦ encouraging children to pursue knowledge in creative ways ◦ nurture their excitement for learning ◦ assist them in making connections between what is known and what could known.

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Fully engaged in experiencing the world

Full of curiosity, desire to learn and ability to communicate

Competent (need to consider in what, what responsibility are you taking for the child

Having the ability to represent their understanding through symbols

Producer of culture, values and rights

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Amiable school

â—ŚDiscovery, serenity, controversy, joy, belonging, encounters, authenticity, interrelationships, learning, provocations, creativity, difference, honouring

co-explore the learning experience with the children  provoke ideas, problem solving, and conflict  take ideas from the children and return them for further exploration  organize the classroom and materials to be aesthetically pleasing  organize materials to help children make thoughtful decisions about the media 

Teacher’s role contd.

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document children's progress: visual, videotape, tape recording, portfolios help children see the connections in learning and experiences help children express their knowledge through representational work form a "collective" among other teachers and parents have a dialogue about the projects with parents and other teachers foster the connection between home, school and community

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Necessary for children to express, revisit, and construct and reconstruct their feelings, ideas and understandings.

An important tool in the learning process for children, teachers, and parents.

What messages does your documentation give?

What is its purpose?

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A catalyst and an excuse to dialogue about education

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It inspires dreams and hopes for a better way of educating and living in a space

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Where knowledge and action pursue and feed each other

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A place that reflects the ideas, ethics, attitudes and culture of the people who live in it

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Adopting ideas

◦ Whose ideas do we adopt and apply to our teaching and why?

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The right to an environment

◦ Do we think critically about the influence our physical environment has on those living in the space?

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Participation

◦ Do we understand participation as coresponsibility in the educational process?

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Organisation

◦ Does the way our centre is organised support or impede interconnectedness and interaction?

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The research keeps pointing back to the quality of the relationships among the teachers, parents, management, and children ◦ An atmosphere of adult harmony is essential as are supportive adult-child relationship. ◦ Children are more likely to emulate those adults with whom they have positive relationships ◦ Children need exposure to:

 societal values, including the accumulated moral wisdom of the adult society  opportunities for peer interaction and pro-social action  opportunities to think about and discuss all sorts of issues  experiences that promote understanding of others and the world (Huitt, 2004).

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The pre-schools and infanttoddler centres of Reggio Emilia “do not provide a model, but rather the opportunity to reflect on our own educational theories, practices, and methods of organisation� (Millikan, 2003, p. ).