Reggio Emilia Approach to Early Childhood Education

The teaching and learning in the municipal early childhood education centers of Reggio Emilia, a city in Northern Italy, have inspired educators all over the world. In 1991, these schools were hailed as “the best preschools in the world” by Newsweek magazine. Around the same time, a group of educators in the greater Boston area started the first Reggio Emilia-Inspired Institute at Lesley University. The Institute, along with Reggio-inspired course offerings, has become a point of gathering and collaboration for early childhood teachers and researchers in North America and around the world.

The Reggio Emilia approach promotes the image of the child as capable, creative, and powerful, with the desire to connect with others, engage in learning, and explore materials in the environment. Schools are amicable places that foster deep relationships between children, teachers, family members, and community. The environment and materials are valued as the third teacher as children learn through engagement with materials intentionally set up by the teachers in the classroom. Teachers observe children’s intentions, interests, and development and use pedagogical documentation to guide their teaching.

Please join us in our third decade of studying the Reggio Emilia approach!

Often when we consider the terms, “art and science,” or “nature and technology,” we think of them in diametric opposition. In actuality, both art and science uncover understandings of the world in which we live, and explorations of nature and technology simultaneously support and deepen our relationships with the environment. 

Children are innately predisposed to examining the world around them and making meaning through the use of materials. With the advancement of technology, we have access to a range of materials that present innumerable new possibilities. Join us as we examine the ways children engage in scientific exploration and our roles, as teachers, in connecting them with 21st-century materials that move engagement beyond passive consumption into active creation. 

Who are the Hawkins?

Influential to the experiences in the schools in Reggio Emilia has been the theory and practice of two American educators, David and Frances Hawkins. At the Reggio Emilia-Inspired Pre-Institute in 2010, the Hawkins’ influences were introduced to us through the work of Hawkins Center of Learning and Boulder Journey School in Boulder, CO.

In 2020, the educators from Boulder Journey School returned after 10 years and shared their inspired work in a virtual session called Beautiful Science, Creative Technology.

Hawkins from Hawkins Centers of Learning on Vimeo

This course is linked to the 27^th annual Reggio Emilia-inspired Institute on the topic: Beautiful Science, Creative Technology. Also considered are the history and philosophy of the Reggio Emilia approach, organization of the environment, the teacher’s role, the role of the studio teacher (atelierista), and the relationship between school and community.

The course is for Lesley University students as well as early childhood teachers (infant-toddlers, preschool, kindergarten, first and second grade) seeking professional development.