By Sue Reed

In a 1991 article titled, “The Ten Best Schools in the World, and What We Can Learn from Them”, Newsweek magazine identified the municipal early childhood programs of Reggio Emilia, Italy as the best early childhood programs in the world. These twenty or so municipal schools for young children ages four months to six years of age, have inspired teachers from around the world to adapt their practice to embrace the “Reggio approach.” Thousands of teachers and child development professionals have traveled to Reggio Emilia to participate in study tours managed by Reggio Children, an organization formed in 1994 to manage pedagogical and cultural exchange initiatives focused on the study of the schools in this small Italian city.

My own interest in the work of the teachers in Reggio Emilia began in the early 90’s when I served as a Westbrook College (now UNE) teaching professor and director of The Children’s Center, the lab school for Westbrook College’s early childhood program. As I shared what I was learning about the approach of the teachers in Reggio with teachers I was providing professional development for, I began to see a remarkable transformation in the way teachers looked at their role in a classroom and in the level of engagement and excitement children felt toward school.

Working with children in “the Reggio way” requires teachers to observe, document and reflect daily on their interactions with children. In so doing, teachers examine their own values about children and about the roles that teachers, schools, peers, families and environment play in the education of each child.

The basic principles that inspire the work of teachers in Reggio Emilia are not new to American teachers. Indeed, like teachers in our country’s preschools, their approach is representative of renowned educational theorists such as Montessori, Dewey, Vygotsky and Piaget. The fundamental ideas interwoven in the Reggio Emilia philosophy include:

• Children are protagonists in their own learning. Teachers are respectful of children’s natural curiosity and interest in constructing their own learning.
• Education needs to focus on each child – not in isolation – but in relationship to their ability to learn through engagement and negotiation with everyone and everything in their environment.
• Parents and family are an active part of a child’s learning experience. Parent participation is considered essential in the day-to-day work of schools.
• The layout of space and materials in schools must encourage encounters, communication, relationships, problem-solving and discovery.
• The pace and rhythm of the daily schedule, activities and projects is considered through the lens of a child’s perception of time, rather than an adults.
• Each school has an atelierista (art teacher) and atelier (art studio). Children are encouraged to express their knowledge through a variety of creative and symbolic media.
• Teachers work in close collegial partnership with each other as researchers in the classroom, listening and observing and questioning children closely. Teachers document their observations for parents, children and themselves as a means of informing and reflecting about what children are learning. Teachers use the understanding they gain from this research and documentation to provide activities and materials to extend the learning and discovery of children.
• Curriculum is not established in advance; rather it emerges from teacher’s observation of the play interests of children. Teachers respond to this play with daily modifications to direct the learning of individual and groups of children. They facilitate children’s exploration of ideas and concepts through work on short and long-term projects.

Thanks to a generous donation for curriculum development made to our school last summer, Breakwater teachers Linda Webb (Kindergarten teacher) and Molly Thompson (Preschool teacher and Early Childhood Division Director) joined 150 other North American educators in traveling to Reggio Emilia, Italy in early May for a week-long study tour. After returning, Molly offered a slide show and presentation to interested parents and faculty at school.

Sue Reed is a parent of a Breakwater Alum. Sue is the director of Maine Roads to Quality: Child Care and Career Development at the Muskie School of Public Service. ME Roads promotes and supports professionalism in early education.