Bringing the Reggio Approach to your Early Years Practice

Linda Thornton, Pat Brunton

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317801856
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Bildung Allgemein

Have you ever wondered what the Reggio Approach is all about, why it works, and how it can be used to benefit the young children in your setting?

The book describes how educators in Reggio Emilia work with young children, and looks at the connections between the Reggio Approach and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage framework. It provides practical examples involving children of different ages in a wide variety of settings, helping the reader to see the connection between practice and theory.

This new edition has been fully updated to show the increasingly mirroring connections between the Reggio Approach and the principles and commitments of the recently revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. Each chapter focuses on one important aspect of the Reggio Approach and includes:

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• Practical examples involving children of different ages in a wide variety of settings, helping the reader to see the connection between practice and theory

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• Questions to enable the reader to reflect on and develop his or her own practice in accordance with new statutory requirements

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• References to sources of further reading and information.

This convenient guide will help early years practitioners, students and parents to really understand what the Reggio Approach can offer their setting and children.

1 Background to the Reggio Approach

DOI: 10.4324/9781315813547-1

History

The Reggio Approach to early childhood has been developed in Reggio Emilia, a small city in northern Italy which places great importance on services for children and families.

The XXVth Aprile preschool in Villa Cella

Reggio Emilia is a prosperous city with a long tradition of banking, trade and manufacturing which goes back to Roman times. It is surrounded by rural areas which include many small farms and smallholdings. Reggio has always been an area where social responsibility is taken seriously and where everyone is expected to play a part in the life of the local community.

The earliest preschool was founded in 1945 at the end of the Second World War. This area of Italy was devastated by the effects of the war and many of the young men were killed. In the small village of Villa Cella, on the outskirts of Reggio Emilia, a small amount of money was given to the community following the sale of a tank, a few horses and an abandoned truck. The villagers had to begin to rebuild their lives and they decided that they would start by building a preschool. They saw this as a way of giving their children a better future by building a new type of school – one where children would be taken seriously and believed in.

In the 1960s the local council, or municipality, of Reggio Emilia took over responsibility for developing and managing a network of preschools, for children aged 3 to 6, which were committed to the Reggio Approach.

In 1970 the network was expanded when the first infant-toddler centre, for infants aged 3 months to 3 years, was opened. This was in response to the needs of mothers with younger children, who wanted to return to work.

In 1991 the American magazine, Newsweek, named the Diana preschool as one of the ten best schools in the world. This led to a lot of interest in the Reggio Approach from around the world. In 1994 the organisation Reggio Children was set up to manage this interest, and to organise international study tours.

Influences

The key person responsible for the development of the Reggio Approach was Loris Malaguzzi. In 1945 Loris Malaguzzi was a primary school teacher working in Reggio Emilia. When he heard about the preschool that was being built in Villa Cella he cycled to the village to find out what was happening. Listening to the women who were working, and discovering how important the preschool was to them, he was inspired to learn more about very young children by training as a psychologist. Until he died in 1994, Loris Malaguzzi dedicated his life to developing what we now call the Reggio Approach.

The way in which the Reggio Approach has developed has been influenced by the culture of the surrounding area. In their everyday lives, the people of Reggio Emilia enjoy meeting others, being involved in discussions and sharing different points of view. Change is not seen as something to be frightened of. Adults and children are open to new ideas and are happy to try different ways of doing things.

Under the guidance of Loris Malaguzzi, the staff of the infant-toddler centres and preschools in Reggio studied examples of good practice from around the world. In developing the Reggio Approach they have been influenced by the ideas of Maria Montessori and Jean Piaget’s theories on thinking and language. Interest in Lev Vygotsky’s research into the connection between social interaction and cognitive development has led to a focus on group learning. Influences have also come from a wide range of artists, scientists, writers, poets and thinkers, many of whom have preschools or infant-toddler centres in Reggio named after them, for example Paulo Freire, Michelangelo and Pablo Neruda.

The front of the Municipal Theatre in Reggio Emilia

The renowned American educationalists Jerome Bruner and Howard Gardner both have a keen interest in the work of the educators in Reggio. They are involved in ongoing research projects into increasing our understanding of how young children think and learn.

Organisation

There are now 78 preschools and infant-toddler centres in and around the city of Reggio Emilia.

Children attend infant-toddler centres and preschools regularly throughout the week. From the age of 3 a child normally attends full time, five days a week.

The standard day runs from 9.00 am to 3.30 pm and an extended day from 7.30 am to 6.20 pm is available for working parents.

Work shifts are organised so that all staff are present in the morning when the centres are busiest. Ratios of adults to children are very similar to those in the UK. Staffing rotas are planned so that staff can meet together regularly to share observations, information and ideas on a daily and weekly basis.

Staff roles

Some of the staff roles in the early childhood centres are very similar to those in the UK, and others are very different.

Teacher

In Reggio the word ‘teacher’ is used for the staff who work with the children in the same way as the term ‘practitioner’ is used in the UK. Teachers work in pairs. They plan together and support the children as they are playing and working together in groups.

Each pair of teachers usually stays with the same group of children from the time they start in the centre until they move on to either preschool or elementary school. This allows the teachers to establish strong relationships with the children and their families.

Atelierista

Each preschool and infant-toddler centre has an atelierista as a staff member. An atelierista has skills and interests in a range of creative forms of expression. He or she may be an artist, a musician, a dancer, a photographer, a geologist or an ICT expert. The atelierista works with the teachers to help them plan and carry out long-term projects with the children. They also share their creative skills with the children and staff.

Pedagogista

The municipal network of early childhood centres is coordinated by a team of pedagogistas. Each pedagogista has responsibility for a small group of infant-toddler centres and preschools. They organise work schedules, deliver staff training and meet with parents, as well as advising teachers on long-term projects and the learning environment.

The key values of the Reggio Approach

The next six chapters look in turn at each of the key values of the Reggio Approach. These are:

• Relationships
• Creativity
• The environment
• Time
• Learning and teaching
• Reflective practice.

Further reading

• Barazzoni, R. (2000) Brick by Brick. The History of the ‘XXV Aprile’ People’s Nursery School of Villa Cella. (English Edition). Italy: Reggio Children.
• A description of the early days of the first preschool, started on Liberation Day in 1945, through to the present day. A description of the historical, political and social influences which have helped to shape the Reggio experience.
• Baldini, R., Cavallini, I. and Vecchi, V. (2012) One City, Many Children: Reggio Emilia, a History of the Present. (English Edition Editor: Peter Moss). Italy: Reggio Children.
• The story of the creation and development of the preschools and infant-toddler centres from the perspective of the key protagonists.
• Thornton, L. and Brunton, P. (2014) Understanding the Reggio Approach, 3rd edition. London: David Fulton Publishers.
• An overview of the Reggio Approach which analyses the essential elements of the Reggio Approach and provides examples from the infant-toddler centres and preschools. This is an ideal text for practitioners wishing to extend their understanding of how young children’s learning is supported and developed in Reggio Emilia.
• Edwards, C. P., Gandini, L. and Forman, G. (eds) (2012) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Experience in Transformation, 3rd edition. Westport, CT: Albex Publishing.
• A collection of interviews with pedagogistas, atelieristas, teachers and administrators from Reggio Emilia, who describe their roles in their own words. This book also contains the transcript of an extended interview with Loris Malaguzzi in which he talks eloquently about the work of the preschools and infant-toddler centres, explaining why things are as they are. Essays and research papers from educators in North America describe how they have been touched by the ‘Reggio experience’.
• Everyday Utopias (DVD) (2011) Italian dialogue with English subtitles.
• A video capturing children’s and adults’ experiences during a day in the life at an infant-toddler centre and a preschool.

2 Relationships

DOI: 10.4324/9781315813547-2

In the Reggio Approach

A powerful image of the child

Right at the heart of the Reggio Approach is the very powerful image adults have of children. Every child is seen as strong, confident and competent. Strong children have their own ideas, express opinions, make independent choices and are able to play and work well with others.

This powerful image of the child needs adults who listen to children and trust them to make responsible decisions. In the Reggio Approach listening to children involves paying careful attention to what they have to say and think, and taking their ideas seriously.

In Reggio the adults are willing to learn alongside the children. They work together in partnership rather than the adult being ‘in charge’ and having all the answers. The role of the adult is to plan starting points for the children to explore and to provide open-ended resources which encourage the children to develop their own thinking and ways of learning. The adults watch and listen carefully to what the children do and say and use their observations to guide and extend each child’s learning.

Children are encouraged to learn from one another. They work and play together in small groups from a very early age. They learn to listen to each other’s points of view and to respect the views and feelings of others.

In Reggio, all children are equally important and children with disabilities are welcomed into the infant-toddler centres and preschools. Children with disabilities are referred to as having ‘special rights’ rather than ‘special needs’. This recognises them as strong children who can play a full part in the life of their group.

Two-way relationships

Strong, positive relationships between people lie at the heart of the Reggio Approach. The relationships between teachers and children, parents and teachers, children and parents are two-way relationships. Teachers, children and parents respect each other and listen to each other’s point of view.

The diagram below shows the way in which the relationships between children, parents and teachers are seen in Reggio.

The triangle of rela...