Lydia Betsy. M 1st year MSc Human Development Mount Carmel College

REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH TOWARDS

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

WHAT IS REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH? It is an innovative and inspiring approach towards early childhood education. It is not a method. It is a specific approach to the needs of the community. Values the child as capable, strong, resilient, rich with wonder and

knowledge. It is focused on pre-school and primary education. Influenced by the theory of Lev Vygotsky, which states that children co-

construct their theories and knowledge through the relationship they build with other people and surrounding environment.

Practices many of the fundamental aspects of the work of Dewey, piaget and many other.

Expressive arts play a major role.

A TEACHING APPROACH

WHEN AND WHERE WAS IT STARTED? The first school was established. It was originated in the town of Reggio Emilia in Italy. Reggio Emilia is a prosperous town that boasts a strong cultural heritage

and historic architecture. It was the first school which was established soon after the world war. It was built by the parents with their own hands. Loris Malaguzzi, a young area teacher. He dedicated his life to the development of Reggio Emilia approach. Loris termed the concept of “Rich Child”.

First school which was established

FUNDAMENTALS OF REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH Education based on interrelationships. The unique Reggio teacher. The environment as the third teacher. Long term projects as vehicle of learning. The importance of documentation. Documentation as communication Real life experiences. The child as protagonist, collaborator, and communicator. The teacher as partner, nurturer, guide, and researcher.

PRICIPLES OF REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH The image of the child: They believe strongly in a child with

unlimited potential who is eager to interact with and contribute to the world.

They construct their own learning which they are capable of. This is the child who is driven by curiosity and imagination. Reggio Emilia approach even caterers to the children with special needs

which are included in all the levels of mainstream education. Reggio approach considers early infancy as a developmental phase in

which children demonstrate an extraordinary curiosity about the world.

Expressive arts: It is a vehicle for learning. (Hundred languages of children).

They are encouraged to participate in varieties of expressive art activities like sculpture, dramatic play, shadow play, puppetry, painting, dancing, music, ceramic constructions and writing.

They give importance for developing all the areas of learning and not only focused on linguistic and logical.

Children are extremely expressive, sharing the feelings and emotions. So the imagination plays a key role.

Importance for the learning process. Experience the world in different ways. Eg: encouraging the children to make

pictorial representations using smells or noises.

PAINTING

SHADOW PLAY

Progettazione: Child centered curriculum. Teachers observe closely, listen to them carefully, give value to their

own ideas so the teacher can gain the understanding of what interests children the most.

Topics are selected based on the children’s interest or family or community.

Projects do not follow any rigid timetables. They allow children to solve the problems themselves. They develop love and trust between the adult and child and children

themselves.

ROLE OF TEACHERS Each child as an individual person. Provides support and encourages the child on the learning journey. Enormous respect for children’s theories and hypotheses. Teacher and

children remain together for a 3yrs duration. The teacher is also a researcher into the ways in which children learn. Educators spend a huge amount of time in observing children in small

groups.

Documentation: children’s learning journey. It is the assessment for children’s learning.

Fundamental to the teacher’s role is the documentation of the children’s learning process.

Observe, document and analyze the child’s learning journey. They use variety of means in creating documentation including audio and

video recordings, photographs, drawings and written notes. Teacher’s understanding of the child’s capabilities and possibilities. Building a trusting relationship with the child and accompanying and

guiding them on the path of their learning, by documenting their learning processes and giving value to all the child’s possibilities, the teacher creates a reciprocal relationship of learning and teaching.

Community and parent-school relationship: Pedagogy of relationships.

Learn through making connections between things, concepts and experiences, interacting with other people and surrounding environment.

Parent and community participation is one of the important feature. Creation of a reciprocal network of communication, continuity in

children’s lives, participation by all involved, feelings of ownership are the development of strong links between the school and home.

Comprehensive integration program. Which involves meetings between parents, child and teacher. It takes place for a period of one week and then it is reduced.

Parents are directly involved in the observation and documentation process. Eg: how the child acts in the home setting which allows teacher to build a more complete image of the child.

Parents interact with teachers and other parents. Parents and grandparents are encouraged to contribute to the upkeep of

the buildings and gardens by volunteering to repair furniture, paint surfaces and equipment, make and build toys and equipment, and tend to gardens and play areas, in short volunteering any particular experience they have.

Environment: Fundamental importance in considering the creation and use of the physical space of the school.

Rather than separate spaces being used for separate purposes, the schools are composed of a series of connecting spaces that flow into one another.

Rooms open onto a central piazza, mirroring the central meeting places in the town, and children move freely through the space.

This type of openness is conducive to participation and interaction and to the general value of openness to the many differences that children, teachers and community bring with them to the schools – differences of race, religion, sex, language, culture.

Space must be conducive to research and autonomous discovery.

An enormous amount of attention and effort goes into the design of furniture and organization of space and materials to maximize the ease of use by the children.

These schools are multi-sensory environments, and materials can be displayed in many ways.

The outside environment is also an obvious source of colour and texture, and plants are widely used in the classrooms as well as in interior courtyards.

Teachers as learners: Teachers are encouraged to understand children’s learning processes rather than acquiring skills and knowledge that they then expect children to learn.

Research is a fundamental learning strategy for children. Teachers are seen as learners first and foremost. Once a week, teachers are given time to come together as a group so

that they can share their analyses and hypotheses with the rest of the staff.

Through close relationships with parents at individual, group and school meetings that seek to share the children’s creative and learning processes, teachers become increasingly aware of the importance of listening and of considering differing viewpoints.

Teachers must be individuals and work with the children. The emphasis is not simply on the acquisition of skills but rather on

encouraging teachers to think in different ways and to consider different viewpoints so that they might best respond to the children’s spontaneous learning.

Teachers are given the opportunity to meet and talk with people living and working outside the boundaries of education such as scientists, musicians, writers, architects and poets.

REFERENCES https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reggio_Emilia_approach http://www.aneverydaystory.com/beginners-guide-to-reggio-emilia/main-

principles/

http://www.chevychasereggio.com/reggio%20emilia%20approach.htm http://

www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/ReggioAug06_tcm4-393250.pdf