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##  Reggio Emilia: Catalyst for Change and Conversation. ERIC Digest.            

Professional and lay interest in how other nations educate and care             for their youngest citizens has increased significantly in the                  United States over the past several decades. The international                  perspectives that seem to be of greatest interest are those linked              to prevailing concerns in American early childhood education. In the            last decade of the 20th century, these concerns included                        interpretations of social constructivism, implications of brain                 research, and the meaning of developmental appropriateness in a                 multicultural society. It was within this context that news of the              small city of Reggio Emilia, Italy, came to the United States (New,             1990). Many early childhood specialists have subsequently explored              the implications of Reggio Emilia's work for the theory, practice,              and improvement of U.S. early childhood education (Edwards,                     Gandini, & Forman, 1993; Katz & Cesarone, 1994; Cadwell, 1997). The             exhibition, "The Hundred Languages of Children," of work from                   infant-toddler and pre- primary centers in Reggio Emilia has been               shown in many U.S. cities. This Digest outlines the history of                  Reggio Emilia's early childhood programs in order to provide                    insights to educators in the United States; and it highlights some              of Reggio Emilia's less visible contributions, particularly its role            in promoting discourse among communities of adults in the United                States, as they debate the meaning and significance of their work               with young children. REGGIO EMILIA AND CONTEMPORARY ITALYIn               order to fully appreciate what is particular about Reggio Emilia, it            is necessary to consider its position within the larger context of              contemporary Italy. As is the case with most of its European                    neighbors, Italy has a national commitment to the period of early               childhood that builds upon a widespread cultural value of shared                responsibility for young children. Social activism in the late 1960s            culminated in a wealth of social policies related to working                    families with young children, including a 1968 law establishing                 preschool education for all 3- to 5-year-olds based on the active               participation of both the state and local governments (New, 1993).              Similar laws for increased provision of infant-toddler care were                eventually passed, first in 1971 and most recently in 1999. Italy's             system of early childhood education is now a subject of heightened              interest as part of national educational reform initiatives (OECD,              2000). In legal texts as well as public conversations, high-quality             early care and education are defined as socio-educational services              and a right of all Italian children and their families. Reggio                  Emilia has contributed to both the discussion and interpretation of             these Italian principles. 
Reggio Emilia is one of several small               wealthy cities in Emilia Romagna, a region in northern Italy with a             history of collaboration and political activism. The groundwork for             what is now regarded as "the Reggio Emilia approach" was established            shortly after World War II, when working parents built new schools              for their young children. Parents did not want ordinary schools.                Rather, they wanted schools where children could acquire skills of              critical thinking and collaboration essential to rebuilding and                 ensuring a democratic society. This strong sense of purpose inspired            the late Loris Malaguzzi to join in this collaborative effort. In               1963, well in advance of the national system, Reggio Emilia opened              its first municipal preschool. By the late 1970s, a system of                   municipally funded preschools and infant-toddler centers was in                 place; it has since served about half of the city's young children.             As is the case in other Italian municipal programs, fees (primarily             for meals) are on a sliding scale. Children who are not in the city             program attend early educational programs provided by the State, the            Church, parent cooperatives, and private organizations. 
During the            decades following the 1960s, Reggio Emilia educators concentrated on            building schools and implementing their developing philosophy; they             also participated in national and regional discussions regarding                early care and education. Many credit Malaguzzi for bringing                    together other Italian early childhood educators to share and debate            the merits of their diverse approaches to creating environments for             young children. In some cities, educators explored strategies to                promote connections in and outside of preschool environments,                   leading, for example, to Pistoia's curriculum-as-apprenticeship                 model and the multi-year projects in Milan. In cities such as Parma             and Modena, university researchers worked with teachers and                     caregivers to study the implications of attachment theory for                   infant-toddler care. In all of these settings, documentation was                explored as a means of promoting parent and teacher understanding of            children's learning and development. 
Within the same period of                collaborative exploration, Reggio Emilia educators were busy                    exploring Malaguzzi's ideas--including his belief that creativity is            a characteristic way of thinking and responding to the world. These             ideas were eventually translated into partnerships of inquiry among             teachers, atelieriste [art educators], and pedagogiste [pedagogical             coordinators] to discover and nurture children's symbolic languages.            Reggio Emilia also served as a leader in examining principles of                social management--originally developed for the labor market--as a              basis from which to build respectful and enduring home-school                   relations. 
A century after Montessori opened up the Casa dei                  Bambini in Rome, the diversity of Italian interpretations of                    high-quality early childhood programs remains consonant with Italy's            tradition of innovation and regional variation. The ongoing exchange            and debate that has characterized the development of program                    differences, in turn, continues to reflect (and contribute to) the              larger cultural value associated with the period of                             l'infanzia [early childhood]. There is little question that Reggio              Emilia has been a key player in this lively Italian conversation.               This role is now heightened by the recent invitation from the                   Italian Ministry of Education for Reggio Emilia to participate in               the development of teacher education programs nationwide. And yet               its influence at home pales in contrast to the role Reggio Emilia               has played in expanding the vocabulary and the nature of the                    discourse concerning early childhood education in nations beyond                Italy's borders. There are few places where Reggio Emilia's                     influence has been as widespread as in the United States. REGGIO              EMILIA AND U.S. EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONThe first presentation             on Reggio Emilia at an annual conference of the National Association            for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) took place in Anaheim in            1987. Since that time, inspired by the exhibition "The Hundred                  Languages of Children" and fueled by delegations of educators who               have seen firsthand the city and its early childhood classrooms,                American interest in Reggio Emilia has grown at a remarkable pace.              Once used as a counter to U.S. notions of developmentally                       appropriate practices (DAP) (New, 1994), the revised version of                 NAEYC's DAP guidelines is filled with examples from this Italian                city (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). Interest among American educators              is focused on the implications of key features of Reggio Emilia's               municipal early childhood program, including: 
*  the role of the              environment-as-teacher, 
* children's multiple symbolic                        languages, 
*  documentation as assessment and advocacy, 
*                   long-term projects or progettazione, 
*  the teacher as researcher,            and 
*  home-school relationships. 
Efforts to understand and                 utilize the principles of Reggio Emilia's practices are now                     described in numerous English-language manuscripts and publications,            including theses and dissertations as well as accounts by teachers              struggling with the realities of Reggio Emilia's compelling                     challenge. Reflecting and contributing to this still-rising level of            interest is a revised second edition of The Hundred Languages of                Children--Advanced Reflections (Edwards, Gandini, & Forman, 1998), a            Reggio Emilia track at NAEYC's national conference, multiple                    electronic discussion lists and study groups, a newsletter, annual              U.S. delegations, and reference sites. Thus it should be no surprise            that Reggio Emilia's "image of the child" has become a dominant                 theme in discussions on early care and educational policies and                 practices at the local and national levels. It is this influence--to            promote not only change, but reflection, debate, and                            conversation--that may well be Reggio Emilia's greatest                         legacy. THE CHANGING CULTURE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATIONWhile            it is premature to make claims about the influence of Reggio                    Emilia's example on children's lives, there is little question that             the field of early childhood education, including teacher education,            has been altered as a result of exchanges taking place with Italian             colleagues. In settings around the world, educators are now looking             with greater attention to children as sources of their own learning,            to parents for new ways of thinking about sharing in children's                 early education, and to each other for support and collaboration in             making schools learning communities for adults as well as children.             As a result of these cross-cultural conversations, some have begun              to use Reggio Emilia as illustrative of how nations might best                  respond to children's development and learning potentials--in                   particular, Reggio Emilia's emphasis on local processes of knowledge            construction (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999; New, 2000). Loris                  Malaguzzi often repeated his immodest and ambitious goal of changing            the culture of childhood. The impact of this advocacy agenda                    continues to reverberate as parents and teachers, citizens and                  policy makers in schools, in states, and across nations debate the              rights and potentials of young children in a changing global                    society. FOR MORE INFORMATIONBredekamp, S., & Copple,                     C. (Eds.). (1997). DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICE IN EARLY                CHILDHOOD PROGRAMS (Rev. ed.). Washington, DC: NAEYC. ED 403                    023. 
Cadwell, L. B. (1997). BRINGING REGGIO EMILIA HOME: AN                   INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. New York: Teachers            College Press. ED 413 036. 
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence,                   A. (1999). BEYOND QUALITY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE:                POSTMODERN PERSPECTIVES. London: Falmer Press. ED 433                           943. 
Edwards, C., Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1993). THE               HUNDRED LANGUAGES OF CHILDREN: THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH TO EARLY              CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. Norwood, NJ: Ablex. ED 355 034. 
Edwards, C.,             Gandini, L., & Forman, G. (Eds.). (1998). THE HUNDRED LANGUAGES OF              CHILDREN: THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH--ADVANCED REFLECTIONS (2nd                 ed.). Greenwich, CT: Ablex. ED 425 855. 
Katz, L. G., & Cesarone,              B. (Eds.). (1994). REFLECTIONS ON THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH.                   Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood             Education. ED 375 986. 
New, R. (1990). Excellent early education:             A city in Italy has it. YOUNG CHILDREN, 45(6), 4-10. EJ 415                     419. 
New, R. (1993). Italy. In M. Cochran (Ed.), INTERNATIONAL                HANDBOOK ON CHILD CARE POLICIES AND PROGRAMS. Westport, CT:                     Greenwood Press. 
New, R. (1994). Culture, child development, and              developmentally appropriate practices: Teachers as collaborative                researchers. In B. Mallory & R. New (Eds.), DIVERSITY AND                       DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE PRACTICES: CHALLENGES FOR EARLY                     CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. New York: Teachers College Press. ED 365                   469. 
New, R. (2000). The Reggio Emilia approach: It's not an                  Approach--it's an attitude. In J. Roopnarine & J. Johnson (Eds.),               APPROACHES TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION. Columbus, OH:                          Merrill. 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and                            Development. (2000). Thematic review of early childhood education               and care policy. OECD ONLINE. Available: http://www.oecd.org/els/               ecec/index.htm. 
Reggio Emilia section of the ERIC/EECE Web Site:              http://ericeece.org/reggio.html 
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