The Reggio Emilia Approach
A philosophy of Early Education initiated in Reggio Emilia, Italy.
The Context
In the aftermath of World War II, citizens of Reggio Emilia, a small town in Northern Italy, decided to bring together their war-torn village by constructing a high quality, community-based preschool. The hope was to rebuild the comminity by creating a developmentally-appropriate school based on a unique educational philosophy. Loris Malaguzzi, a teacher from the town of Reggio Emilia, began this innovative project which has grown steadily and gained widespread public acclaim.
The Reggio Approach by which Pond Park Nursery School is inspired is a philosophy of early education that emphasises:
- Respect for a child's pace and way of learning. Each child is an individual with an individual
personality and an individual way of learning. We aim to get to know each child and to help him/her
learn not only individually but also within small groups and as part of the larger class unit.
Children are treated respectfully and their ideas and comments are listened to and acknowledged. At
the same time they are encouraged to respect other people's ideas, even if they have a different
viewpoint. We can all learn from each other and it is important to help the next generation to
acknowledge and accept diversity.
- An emergent curriculum i.e. a curriculum that is not rigid but allows flexibility based on each child's
individual needs and interests.
Children need to connect to past experiences and see relationships between things. By building on
past experiences children begin to see connections and therefore extend their learning by building on
what is already known to them.
- Children have many ways of expressing themselves
Children are thought to have at least 100 languages. Art, music, dance, building, writing, talking,
signing etc. are all considered part of the 100 languages of children. These multiple languages are
used to help children build knowledge and understand the world around them.
- Children need to go slowly and revisit experiences and situations in order to deepen their
understanding.
We aim to allow sufficient time for each child to explore, extend and revisit the learning experiences
they have here at the nursery school.
- Documentation and observations of the processes of learning. Documentation is central to the life of
a Reggio inspired school - your child's folder, photographs, samples of work, hand written notes are
some examples of the documentation we use to build up an individual profile. This documentation is
then used to plan future learning experiences in school.
Documentation communicates the life of the school to you the parents and to visitors. Displaying the
documentation in the nursery school encourages children to learn from one another and helps to
make the process of learning visible.
- The Environment - we aim to create a learning environment that provokes the child's individual
interests and curiosity - children are naturally curious and love to explore. The classroom environment
therefore is considered very important and is very neutral in the use of colours so that the work of the
children becomes the focus.
We place great emphasis on outdoor play and planning learning experiences outside so that children
have opportunities to explore the natural environment - the classroom outside.
- Relationships and community collaboration. We strive to ensure that your child feels happy and secure
during their time with us at Pond Park Nursery School. We recognise that constraints of time prevent
extensive participation between parents and teachers. However, we value the role of parents and we
are continually seeking ways to facilitate more parental involvement.
Whilst at Pond Park Nursery School, your child deserves the best possible learning experience at this
important formative stage in their lives and we want to do our best to provide that during the short time here with us.
|
|
|
|