The Reggio Approach
What is the history of Reggio?
The Reggio approach had its beginnings in 1945 in the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Loris Malaguzzi, an innovator in education, developed an educational philosophy based on relationships between children, parents, and teachers. He emphasized both children and teachers as co-learners exploring and living together, using tools of listening, observing, and flexibility to create the learning space.
Is there a standard curriculum model in Reggio-inspired schools?
While the Reggio approach does not follow a standard curriculum model with pre-determined units of study, Reggio schools have an underlying structure based on guided learning and collaboration. Within each Reggio community, short and long term projects emerge that highlight children’s learning processes.
How does Reggio compare to other educational philosophies, such as Montessori or Waldorf?
There are many educational philosophies that emphasize the child at the center of the learning process. These approaches have points at which they build on common knowledge and share similar values, and other points at which they diverge. All three philosophies emphasize the development of the whole child and experiential learning based on doing and exploring. Each philosophy encourages children to be responsible for their space and bodies, and learn independent skills. Montessori and Waldorf have formal methods of teaching/learning, where as the Reggio approach defines itself as an evolving experience of creating enriching learning spaces.
Where can I find out more about the Reggio approach?
- Innovative Teacher Project
- North American Reggio Emilia Alliance
- Bringing Reggio Emilia Home: An innovative Approach to Early Childhood Education, by Louise Boyd Cadwell and Lella Gandini
- An Encounter with Reggio Emilia: Children’s Early Learning made Visible, by Linda Kinney
“The Hundred Languages Of Children”
The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.
A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marvelling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.
The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.
They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.
They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.
And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.
– Loris Malaguzzi
(translated by Lella Gandini)
