…on the Reggio Emilia educational project

You may have heard of Reggio Emilia throughout your professional career. You may be working in a Reggio Emilia influenced early learning service, or you may be familiar with the history of the Reggio Emilia educational project.

Alternatively, you may be completely new to this approach to learning and teaching and want to learn more. Spend a minute with us this week to share a glimpse of the Reggio Emilia educational project and expand your knowledge on the Reggio Emilia philosophy.


This Spend a minute aims to briefly examine the background and history of the Reggio Emilia educational project, but you can learn more through the online learning package, Encountering and interpreting the principles of Reggio Emilia—a one-of-a-kind online professional learning package from which the content for this Spend a minute was drawn.
1. It all started in Reggio Emilia 
 
Reggio Emilia is a small city in northern Italy. In 1899 a socialist government came to power which promoted a different attitude, including new innovations to education resulting with the opening of the first local government kindergarten in 1913. The aim of the kindergarten was to combine the needs of both education and care for working families within the community. 

The fascist Mussolini regime resulted in the closure of the kindergarten in 1938 and during World War II the township was bombed multiple times. During rebuilding, Loris Malaguzzi, a local primary school teacher, was inspired by the small farming community of Villa Cella, who built their own kindergarten with the bricks of the bombed buildings in their community (Barazzoni, 2000, p. 17).

This rebuilding occurred in many parts of Reggio Emilia with Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach, taking a leading role in searching for a way that education could and should be different. This redevelopment initiative evolved into a remarkable local government system of education throughout the region of Reggio Emilia. 

 
2. Reggio Emilia is not a framework, model or program

The educational project of Reggio Emilia is not a model, a program, best practice or a benchmark that can be implemented in just any place, because it is tied to history, and political and ethical choices. The Reggio Emilia educational project do not see their work as a method to be copied, but rather a relationship of hope with shared values, dialogue and debate about educational practice.

The term the 'educational project' refers to the city's research into the relationship between learning and teaching, carried out by educators within early learning services.

In Australia, the term ‘Reggio Emilia-inspired’ is used by a number of services who value the ideologies and commitment demonstrated in the Reggio Emilia education project, particularly the representation of the child and the role of educators, families and children as researchers.
3. The hundred languages of children

Through documentation and collaborative interpretation carried out by educators working as researchers, Loris Malaguzzi saw that from birth children have extraordinary potential. However, the ability of children to use their competencies is dependent on the opportunities provided to them through:
  • a wide range of learning experiences,
  • rich and varied materials, and
  • resources.
Loris Malaguzzi used the metaphor of The hundred languages of children to represent the competence he attributed to children and this concept is a key cornerstone of the Reggio Emilia educational project.
Here is an excerpt from a poem by Loris Malaguzzi, translated by Lella Gandini:

The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts 
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
(Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 2012).

Consider replacing the child, with ‘I’—how does this change the meaning of the poem?
4. Explore further online

Discover and explore the principles of Reggio Emilia further in Encountering and interpreting the principles of Reggio Emilia, a one-of-a-kind online professional learning package, developed by Early Childhood Australia (ECA) and the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE), in collaboration with Reggio Children, Italy.

ECA wishes to thank REAIE for collaborating on the development of his newsletter. 
References:
Barazzoni, R. (2000). Brick by brick: The history of the “XXV Aprile” People’s Nursery School of Villa Cella. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children.
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (2012). The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia experience in transformation (3rd ed.). Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
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