Let us take you to Italy, 1945 - the second world war has finally released its grip of oppression. Reggio Emilia is a town in the north where the people sought to recover from the physical and psychological destruction caused by the war. One of the first areas of reform was the creation of schools, physically built and run by the parents and teachers in the community. Local workers, farmers and the Union of Italian Women gathered their strengths to build unique learning environments for their young children. Loris Malaguzzi, a local teacher who worked together with these courageous and insightful women and men to build these early schools, is considered to be the founder of the early childhood approach. He writes;
A simple, liberating thought came to our aid, namely that things about children and for children are only learned from children. (Loris Malaguzzi, 1993).
Children are seen as protagonists, collaborators, and communicators.
Teachers are guides and partners.
The environment acts as the third teacher.
By following the lead of the child, learning is grounded in strengths and honours the rights of children.
So what do you imagine happens when children (not in Italy, nor in a "reggio" learning setting) were involved in conversations focused on what they noticed about their community? What was the result of their expression of "their" community through words and art? What was it that WE learned from seeing our community through the eyes of our children?
What do you think? Write your comments!
The project that we will highlight over the next few weeks is the brain child of Alanna Miller and Theresa Gereluk, two early childhood education & care college instructors. Along with their phenomenal group of students and a community of willing child care centres, they set about to follow the lead and learn from their children... and boy did we!
| photo by ianimmortal available under a Creative Commons Attribution license |
