"Reggio Inspired"
From www.reggioinspired.com:
In the December 2, 1991 issue of Newsweek magazine, a report on "The 10 Best Schools In The World" hailed the Scuola dell'infanzia Diana at the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia (pronounced red'jO AmE'lya) as the best preschool in the early childhood education category.
That acclaim not only still holds true today but has been firmly endorsed the world over by everyone who has come to know this remarkable and exemplary approach to early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia philosophy has warmed the hearts of many and it will undoubtedly continue to deeply inspire those who care for and care about children.
Over the decades, the municipality of Reggio Emilia evolved this distinctive and innovative approach to child development that above all else, respects the rights of children and is based on the image of children as capable and having tremendous potential.
The approach nurtures children's intellectual growth and creativity through the development of their expressive, communicative, symbolic, cognitive, ethical, metaphorical, logical, imaginative, and relational "languages", an emphasis on the visual arts, and the conscious and deliberate utilisation of the environment as an essential element in the process of learning.
"These schools pulse with the energy of stories that trace the search for meaning by children and adults, the joy of the journey, and an abundance of children's fresh ideas in clay and paint, pen and words, numbers and theories.
When we are surrounded with this energy, we understand that we are meant to live like this, true to our nature and our birthright as creative thinkers within a close community, not only as children but as human beings. Many of us may have caught glimmers of this truth before, but to walk into the schools of Reggio Emilia is to witness a great flash of insight.
Perhaps we weep in these schools because we long for the meaning and beauty of life as it can be lived, not only in school but everywhere. Perhaps we mourn because we see what we have missed. Perhaps we feel a fervent hope that school as we know it, life as we know it, might be transported toward the possible." (Louise Cadwell, 2003 in "Bringing Learning To Life")
Distinguished Harvard University psychologist and researcher, Howard Gardner, whose own Theory of Multiple Intelligences has jolted many to rethink conventional notions of human intelligence, paid tribute to the Reggio Emilia preschools in his forward for the book, "The Hundred Languages Of Children", which documents the thinking and work of these remarkable schools:
"I have had the privilege of visiting centers of early childhood education in many lands, and have learned much from what I have observed in these diverse settings...To my mind, no place in the contemporary world has succeeded so splendidly as the schools of Reggio Emilia."
In the December 2, 1991 issue of Newsweek magazine, a report on "The 10 Best Schools In The World" hailed the Scuola dell'infanzia Diana at the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia (pronounced red'jO AmE'lya) as the best preschool in the early childhood education category.
That acclaim not only still holds true today but has been firmly endorsed the world over by everyone who has come to know this remarkable and exemplary approach to early childhood education. The Reggio Emilia philosophy has warmed the hearts of many and it will undoubtedly continue to deeply inspire those who care for and care about children.
Over the decades, the municipality of Reggio Emilia evolved this distinctive and innovative approach to child development that above all else, respects the rights of children and is based on the image of children as capable and having tremendous potential.
The approach nurtures children's intellectual growth and creativity through the development of their expressive, communicative, symbolic, cognitive, ethical, metaphorical, logical, imaginative, and relational "languages", an emphasis on the visual arts, and the conscious and deliberate utilisation of the environment as an essential element in the process of learning.
"These schools pulse with the energy of stories that trace the search for meaning by children and adults, the joy of the journey, and an abundance of children's fresh ideas in clay and paint, pen and words, numbers and theories.
When we are surrounded with this energy, we understand that we are meant to live like this, true to our nature and our birthright as creative thinkers within a close community, not only as children but as human beings. Many of us may have caught glimmers of this truth before, but to walk into the schools of Reggio Emilia is to witness a great flash of insight.
Perhaps we weep in these schools because we long for the meaning and beauty of life as it can be lived, not only in school but everywhere. Perhaps we mourn because we see what we have missed. Perhaps we feel a fervent hope that school as we know it, life as we know it, might be transported toward the possible." (Louise Cadwell, 2003 in "Bringing Learning To Life")
Distinguished Harvard University psychologist and researcher, Howard Gardner, whose own Theory of Multiple Intelligences has jolted many to rethink conventional notions of human intelligence, paid tribute to the Reggio Emilia preschools in his forward for the book, "The Hundred Languages Of Children", which documents the thinking and work of these remarkable schools:
"I have had the privilege of visiting centers of early childhood education in many lands, and have learned much from what I have observed in these diverse settings...To my mind, no place in the contemporary world has succeeded so splendidly as the schools of Reggio Emilia."