Reggio Approach Research Articles

The philosophical and pedagogical underpinnings shared by philosophy for children (P4C) and Froebelian approaches

Recent interest in integrating philosophy in early childhood education has led scholars to explore the potential connections between P4C practices and different educational approaches, such as the Reggio Emilia and Montessori. Murris, for instance, reads the Reggio Emilia approach diffractively through P4C and concludes that the P4C and Reggio approach allow for emergent knowledge production and expression, drawing on all of the child's material-discursive languages and disrupting binary distinctions between child and adult. Scarpini draws attention to Montessori and P4C's mutual emphasis on children's right to think and space to express their thoughts, feelings and ideas together in a safe and dialogical space. The emergence of these theoretical and pedagogical inquiries towards the P4C approach makes Froebelian dialogue even more necessary in terms of developing a well-rounded understanding of embedding philosophy in children's early years experiences. Some ontological and pedagogical resonances between Froebelian approaches and the P4C are reflected to discuss the affordances and challenges of integrating philosophy into children's lives in early childhood education. To do this, diffraction is used as a reflexive methodology for reading Froebelian and P4C texts through and around one another that emerge diverse ontological underpinnings to unpack epistemological possibilities for non-dichotomous early childhood understandings and practices. The aim is to achieve a deeper comprehension of how the two can mutually enhance each other and be implemented in practice to promote more meaningful learning experiences for children in the early years.

Listening and Documenting in The Reggio Approach: The Challenge And The Vision Stemming From Bruner’s Contribution

The pedagogy of listening was born and developed in Reggio Emilia’s schools in northern Italy. This article analyses the pedagogy of listening in the light of the fundamental texts of the Reggio Approach literature. The aim is to explore some key concepts such as language, context, relationship, and evaluation, and also to link them to Jerome Bruner’s work and contributions. Moreover, the authors attempt to offer an in-depth view of “documentation” as the crucial tool to ground listening into the dynamics among the many educational actors involved. In the last part of the article, we underline the importance of democratic values in the Reggio Approach and in its socio-constructivist approach to active citizenship and children’s rights. Keywords: pedagogy of listening, Reggio Emilia, Bruner, psychodynamic relation, narrative, documentation

Critically Discuss the Purposes of ECE Through the Analysis of International Pedagogical Perspectives

Children are observed as potentially productive individuals whose ‘productivity’ is critical to the future and development of society (Ang, 2014). Therefore, society expects that children need to be prepared for future productivity. Heckman (2011) suggests that significant economic benefits can be gained from investing in early childhood development. Specifically, early education is an invaluable investment for governments and families. Based on this perspective, countries invest in early care and education (Kulic et al., 2019). Most countries have attempted to achieve multiple purposes in ECE (Cochran, 2011; Kulic et al., 2019). Some are child-focused purposes, such as preparation for compulsory education and the socialisation of migrant children. There are also parent-oriented purposes, such as emancipating women and encouraging them to enter the labour market and meeting the childcare needs of working parents (Bianchi & Milkie, 2010). This research attempts to use the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the Reggio approach as examples to critically discuss one of the purposes of ECE from an international pedagogical perspective. The purpose is to prepare for primary school. This is a controversial sexual purpose. This purpose will lead schools, parents, and teachers to place an over-emphasis on developing children’s academic skills and neglect other children’s needs. Therefore, the risk of schoolization of early education needs to be prevented.

The Reggio Approach in Motion: Documenting Experiences, Reflecting on Practice, and Disseminating the Ideas

This article offers a cultural analysis of the materialization into cultural texts of a variety of educational experiences, political visions, and pedagogical approaches in order to understand the symbolic construction of the Reggio Emilia approach, highlighting its singularity and the motives of its dissemination. The analysis considers selected texts that refer to specific methods of documenting children’s activities to highlight the symbolic strategies that select, organize, and materialize a constellation of local experiences into a unified educational perspective. Through the innovative analysis of text composition, new dimensions of professionalism have emerged, challenging conventional approaches and promotinga valid alternative to the standardization of early childhood education. The dissemination of the Reggio approach through texts opens up new opportunities for early years practitioners to critically consider participation with families and calls on policymakers to reform the sector. The potential is created for cultural dialogue between families and professionals with different models of children’s growth, thereby enriching the “funds of knowledge” at communities’ disposal to promote children’s approaches to language and symbolism.

Art pedagogy in preschool education: opportunities and challenges

The article considers issues related to the development of a creatively active personality of a preschool child through art pedagogy. The essence, goals and objectives of art pedagogy in the context of preschool education are determined. Possible problems of art pedagogy technologies’ implementation are highlighted: at the organization level of the subject-spatial environment, the readiness of children, teachers and parents. The ways and means of resolving the identified problems are also presented: systematic work with teachers and parents included in joint parent-child projects and ways of transforming the developing subject-spatial environment in preschool educational organizations is proposed. The Reggio approach is presented as one of the most successful forms of implementation: the international experience of applying this approach in preschool organizations is described. Also presented is the practice of Reggio approach implementing on line with art pedagogy in working with teachers and parents, carried out at the Southern Federal University in the form of a short-term project.

Examining the Reggio Emilia Approach: Keys to Understanding Why it Motivates Students

Because of the success of the Reggio Emilia Approach in early childhood education, it could be useful to researchers and practitioners to identify and explicate components of the approach that make it effective in motivating students. In this paper, we examine the Reggio Emilia Approach through the lens of the MUSIC® Model of Motivation, a model based on key motivation components (i.e., empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring) derived from current research and theory. We explain the connections between the Reggio approach and the MUSIC model using theoretical and practical examples to demonstrate that the success of the Reggio approach is in part due to the manner in which it is consistent with key motivation principles. We believe that educators could assess their own programs to determine whether they could do more to incorporate these motivational components into their educational environment.

Evaluation of the Reggio approach to early education

We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0–3) and preschool (ages 3–6) programs in Reggio Emilia. The control group either did not receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by municipal systems (outside of Reggio Emilia), or by state or religious systems (in all three cities). We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies: difference-in-differences, matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, participation in elections, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects. This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by a survey we conduct, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedagogical practices of childcare systems in the three cities over time.

Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education

We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0–3) and preschool (ages 3–6) programs. The control group either didn't receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by the state or religious systems. We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies: difference-in-differences, matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, election participation, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects. This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by our survey, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedagogical practices of childcare systems in the three cities over time.

Provocation to Reflect: An Educator’s Exploration of Engaging Students Through Documentation

<div class="page" title="Page 1"><div class="section"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>This article is a personal narrative of how the author struggled to articulate her own philosophy of education while incorporating Reggio Emilia ideas into her teaching practice. The author found pedagogical documentation, an important component of the Reggio Emilia approach, to facilitate student self-assessment and intellectual engagement in Calgary schools. Her independent inquiry drew from her </span><span>master’s research, her re ections on her teaching philosophy, and her examination of the links between the Reggio approach and her school board’s pedagogical goals. She identi es </span><span>some challenges in using pedagogical documentation, and looks forward to future provocations that will deepen her understanding of what it means to be an educator. </span></p></div></div></div></div>

Taking inspiration from Reggio Emilia: An analysis of a professional development workshop on fostering authentic art in the early childhood classroom

ABSTRACTThis article documents the implementation of a professional development workshop on the Reggio Emilia approach in early childhood art education. It describes how early childhood educators participated in a collaborative collage experience and how a similar art activity can be engaging for young children. It also highlights philosophies, strategies, and elements of the Reggio approach and elucidates how they can be easily integrated into early childhood classroom praxis.

Does pedagogical documentation support maternal reminiscing conversations?

AbstractWhen parents talk with their children about lessons learned in school, they are participating in reminiscing of an unshared event. This study sought to understand if pedagogical documentation, from the Reggio Approach to early childhood education, would support and enhance the conversation. Mother–child dyads reminisced two separate times about preschool lessons, one time with documentation available to them and one time without. Transcripts were coded extracting variables indicative of high and low maternal reminiscing styles. Results indicate that mother and child conversation characteristics were more highly elaborative when documentation was present than when it was not. In addition, children added more information to the conversation supporting the notion that such conversations enhanced memory for lessons. Documentation could be used as a support tool for conversations and children’s memory about lessons learned in school.

Documentation as a tool for participation in German early childhood education and care

The aim of the study presented in this article is to find out whether the documentation practices in German early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres are compatible with the notion of participation by children. Children's participation has to be seen as a general educational issue in the context of democratic and inclusive education, but also as a specific aim to foster the learning and reflective competencies of the individual child. This makes it all the more important to know whether participation can be found in early childhood key practices – for example documentation. The research examines the documentation practices in 40 ECEC centres in Germany. On this basis, the article outlines what the main forms of documentation are (portfolio, documentation panels, presentations of children's work) and what importance children's participation has for these forms. It shows that participation is of minor relevance in the documentation practices in most of the ECEC centres examined. Only a few centres involve children extensively in documentation and include documentation in their daily work. If participation is part of the documentation practices, a ‘pedagogy of listening' as conceived by the Reggio approach can be found.

Inspiration from Reggio Emilia

Childminders can take as much from theories of education as other members of the childcare workforce, and their settings are particularly suited to the Reggio approach.

The effects of documentation on young children’s memory

A central aspect of the Reggio approach to early childhood education is documentation, in which educators observe, record, and display children’s work. Educational anecdotes and developmental theory suggest that documentation may facilitate children’s memory; the current study explored this possibility empirically. Sixty-three preschool/kindergarten children experienced a novel learning event. Two days later, children were reminded with either documentation or worksheets of event details and the factual information that had been presented, or they were not reminded. Three weeks later, children completed a memory interview that included episodic and semantic measures. Children in the documentation and worksheet conditions remembered more factual information than those in the no-reminder condition. Children in the documentation condition produced more on-topic speech than those in the worksheet condition during reminding and a subsequent learning session. Potential benefits of documentation for classroom performance are discussed.

Book review: Bringing the Reggio approach to your early years practice

Book review: Bringing the Reggio approach to your early years practice

A study on the relationship of children’s playfulness and emotion regulation to social competence

This paper examines the current state of the Korean adaptation of the Reggio Approach in order to reveal the hidden assumptions and perspectives on which we can reflect to make changes for better education. Korean classrooms were examined and analyzed around four major features: project works as a part of curriculum, collaboration through communication, multi-symbolic approach using a variety of representational media, and documentation. Despite the common symbols shared by both settings, many differences were found in practice. Korean teachers tend to believe in objectivity, single interpretations of reality, and reducing cognitive conflicts, white the socio-constructivistic Reggio educators believe in intersubjectivity, multiple interpretations of reality and fostering cognitive conflicts. The successful adaptation of the Reggio principles would require us a $quot;paradigm shift$quot;. Reinterpretation of the familiar symbols from a new paradigm and perspective can help us reconstruct an early educational framework and practice of our own context and time.

Moving Onward: Reflections and Re-interpretations of the Reggio Approach

This article offers an insight into teaching and learning from various interviews I conducted with educators about their journey with the philosophy of Reggio Emilia. Many early childhood educators in North America are captivated by the philosophical fundamentals of Reggio Emilia. Emerging from Reggio Emilia, Italy after the destruction of WWII, this approach embraces several key principles that guide the educator. These include: the importance of teachers as researchers, documenters, observers and listeners; the environment as the "third educator," and the image of the capable, competent child (Edwards, Gandini & Forman, 1998).

Extending Reggio Emilia Principles in the Middle School Context: A Western Australian Case Study

In partnership with a small Western Australian independent community school, this research investigated how the Reggio Emilia philosophy was extended into the Middle School context. The Reggio approach, recognised as a model of excellence for early childhood education, has remained largely unexplored in secondary education. This research, is therefore, highly significant to the educational community as it presents an alternative model with fresh insight for delivering mainstream Middle Schooling consistent with post-modern sensibilities. The case study, conducted over a six-month period, and employing ethnographic inquiry methodology, documented the experiences of those involved in this innovative programme during a time of ongoing tension between the school’s promotion of a curriculum responsive to the “complex ecology” of young adolescents’ lives and fulfilling government registration requirements. Implications for educational practice and theory are that extending Reggio Emilia educational principles in the Middle School context promotes students’ learning, well-being and happiness.

Powerful children: understanding how to teach and learn using the Reggio approach

In Possible Schools, Ann Lewin-Benham showed us that we can create schools that engage the minds of children and involve parents, even in urban settings. In this book, she describes projects in a school that successfully adapted the Reggio Approach with Head Start-eligible children. She explains how to use the Reggio Approach to address current major concerns in early education, including helping children become self-disciplined, making sure children are ready for 1st grade, assessing children's progress, and laying a foundation for literacy.Presenting a multitude of examples of excellent preschool practice, this dynamic book introduces the concept of significant work that draws deeply on young children's innate intelligences, provides teachers with an opportunity to reflect on what they know and understand about young children, illustrates how teachers can make changes in their classrooms to expand and improve learning, describes robust activities from an urban preschool, including how each project relates to a particular teaching principle, and suggests more clearly defined standards and lays out policy implications for each.

Reconsidering the Education of Gifted Young Children

While conceptualizations of giftedness have been broadened to include many forms of giftedness, a reconceptualization of gifted programs has not followed. The paper argues that the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, combining important features of the fields of early childhood education and gifted education, is a good fit for gifted young children. This approach is proposed for gifted young children because of its view of children as competent and full of po-tential, its emphasis on the development of symbolic languages early in life, and its conduciveness to higher-level thinking. The paper suggests that the Reggio ap-proach not only enhances intellectual development, but also nurtures multiple forms of knowledge representation in early childhood, thus laying foundations for diverse talent development.