What is a Reggio-Emilia inspired school?
Loris Malaguzzi (1920-1994) founded the Reggio-Emilia approach at a city in northern Italy called Reggio-Emilia just after the end of WWII. The ‘Reggio’ approach was developed for municipal child-care and education programs serving children below six. Its premise was (and still is) that children are competent, resourceful, curious, imaginative and inventive, possessing a basic need to interact and communicate with others. The ‘Reggio’ vision of the child as a competent learner produced a strong child-directed curriculum model with purposeful progression but not scope and sequence. Teachers follow the children’s interests and do not provide focused instruction in reading and writing. The Reggio approach has a strong belief that children learn through interaction with others, including parents, staff and peers in an inviting, beautiful learning environment. Some key features of the Reggio Emilia approach include: The role of the environment-as-teacher Within the Reggio Emilia schools, ed
