Home education is a growing but relatively unknown and understudied phenomenon in Italy. This study offers an empirical contribution to surface the key familial characteristics, parental rationales, and pedagogic practice of home education in this national context. As part of a larger mixed-methods research project, the findings of a survey…

Increasing interest in the provision of early childhood education and care services as a social investment strategy has been accompanied by worldwide concerns to identify appropriate pedagogical practices for working with young children. Here, we trace the developing interest in child-centred approaches, before considering whether there can be…

Principles of the Reggio Emilia approach are a catalyst for thinking about practices in early childhood education. Teachers in the child care system of Reggio Emilia encourage us to think about our image of childhood and the ways we interact with children, plan curriculum, and design environments. This article examines experiences in a rural…

In the past decade, the Reggio Emilia preschools and toddler centers have emerged from Italy as a significant international influence in early childhood education and a challenging presence to the notions held about young children in the United States. The Reggio Emilia approach raises questions about the inherent limitations of the…

Noting that the approach to early childhood education in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy incorporates art as a learning tool, this paper describes the Reggio Emilia approach and discusses ways for American educators to apply the philosophies of the Reggio Emilia schools. The paper describes the founding of the schools in Reggio Emilia, by…

The name Reggio Emilia, Italy, is synonymous with exemplary early childhood education. In Reggio schools, exploration, communication, problem solving, and discovery are encouraged. Reggio programs are full-day programs, art is central, and teachers and students stay together for three years. Describes efforts to introduce the Reggio method to the…

This article discusses an early childhood program administrator's reflections on her visit to the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. The following six themes are discussed: (1) teachers' respect for each child; (2) teachers' emphasis on relationships; (3) the importance of art as the medium chosen to represent children's thinking; (4) the…

Four articles discuss the child-centered approach of the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy: "Not Just Anywhere: Making Child Care Centers into 'Particular' Places" (Lella Gandini); "Your Image of the Child" (Loris Malaguzzi); "What Can We Learn from Reggio Emilia: An Italian-American Collaboration (Lella Gandini); and…

In recent years the OECD has undertaken the evaluation of early childhood education and care (ECEC) on behalf of ministers of education in a number of countries in order to support quality improvement in this field. This article is based on a workshop for the national coordinators of early childhood policy in Sweden, 2003, which dealt with…

This presentation examines the state of preschool education in developed and developing nations, and discusses how the art-oriented, child-centered approach of the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, may be used to help improve preschool education worldwide. Although the majority of parents in many nations are satisfied with the educational…

Describes the Reggio Emilia program in Italy that encourages children to explore their environments through different modes of expression. Addresses why music is not a central aspect of the program and offers a music activity that accords with the Reggio Emilia philosophy emphasizing the need for music in the program. (CMK)

Fifty teachers from the St. Louis, Missouri area have been involved in a project to bring the development strategies used by the Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy to the United States. Their experiences suggest that teachers need to adopt professional development plans that identify goals, select methods of support to achieve these goals, plan for…

This article discusses the reflections of an early childhood special education professional on her visit to the preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy. After describing the activities observed, the schools' philosophy, and the schools' environments, the paper discusses how the schools work with children with "special rights" (i.e., special…

Maintains that there is increasing interest in the approach to art education in the Reggio Emilia schools in northern Italy. Describes the Emilia approach to early childhood education and characterizes it as child-centered and emergent. Includes a dialogue between a teacher and students using the approach. (CFR)

This paper examines the preschool programs of the Reggio Emilia region of Northern Italy, describing the role of Loris Malaguzzi in the founding of the municipal preschools in the region after the Second World War and discussing the theoretical and philosophical basis of the child-centered, developmentally appropriate, art-centered Reggio Emilia…