P.O. Box 51, Truro,
Cornwall, TR1 1WJ
T: 01872 273 492
01872 264 603
The Reggio Approach and creative learning environments
A short extract from the first chapter of 'Understanding the Reggio Approach' outlining the historical origins of the preschools and infant toddler centres of Reggio Emilia.
'Understanding the Reggio Approach'
Linda Thornton and Pat Brunton
David Fulton Publishing (2005)
History
Reading about the history of Italy, it is clear that Reggio Emilia has long had a distinct identity and independence of thought and action. In January 1797 the red, white and green Tricolore, the flag adopted by the Cispadana Republic (the cities of Ferrara, Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia), which later became the Italian flag, first appeared in the Salon di Tricolore in Reggio.
From the early part of the twentieth century the area of Emilia Romagna has, contrary to the rest of Italy, embraced 'enlightened communism.' During the Second World War the area was devastated by Fascist and Nazi action because of its resistance to dictatorship and German occupation, and suffered considerable structural damage as a result of allied bombing. In 1945, during the aftermath of war, the people urgently needed to rebuild their lives - not only materially but also socially and morally. They set about rebuilding homes and public buildings, developing co-operative movements to provide services and redressing inequalities in their society. Throughout this period the women of the area were the powerful force behind the development of early childhood services.
The municipal preschools of Reggio Emilia came into existence in 1963 but their origins lie in the period immediately following Liberation Day 1945. In the village of Villa Cella, seven kilometres from Reggio, a small amount of money was made available to the community by the Committee of National Liberation. This money came from the sale of a tank, a few horses and a truck that had been abandoned by the retreating Nazis. The men of the village suggested building a theatre; the women wanted to build a pre-school to provide a new form of education which would ensure that they would never again bring up a generation of children who would tolerate injustice and inequality.
Through negotiation and debate, it was agreed that the pre-school would be built. A local farmer contributed the land, a building co-operative gave the services of its construction engineer and machinery, and the local population, men and women of all ages, provided the labour. The building materials came from the bombed out buildings of the village and the surrounding area.
Loris Malaguzzi, pedagogical founder of the educational experience and services of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, was an elementary school teacher in Reggio in 1945 when he first heard rumours of the project taking place in Villa Cella. He cycled out to the village to see if what he had heard was true.
I went home. My feelings of wonder, and the sense of the extraordinary, were stronger than my happiness . . . All of my little models were laughingly overturned; that building a school would ever occur to the people, women, farm labourers, factory workers, farmers was in itself traumatic. But that these same people, without a penny to their names, with no technical offices, building permits, site directors, inspectors from the Ministry of Education or the Party, could actually build a school with their own strength, brick by brick, was the second paradox.
(Malaguzzi 2000:13)
Similar early childhood projects were developing in several of the poorest areas of Reggio Emilia at this time, all created and run by parents. There was a strong sense of hope for the future arising from the adversity of the past.
For almost the next twenty years the preschools were reliant on the goodwill and support of their local communities for money, resources, food and skills.
By the early 1960s the community run system was becoming unsustainable and in 1962 Union of Italian Women, which ran many of the early preschools, called a regional conference in Reggio Emilia to highlight the need for quality services in both the country and the city.
Prior to the 1960s, preschools in Reggio, as in the rest of Italy, were the responsibility of the Roman Catholic Church. By now the system could no longer cope with the demand for places, and parents began to demand the right to send their children to secular schools. In 1963 the Municipality of Reggio Emilia began the setting up of a network of educational services which included the opening of the first preschools for children aged from 3 to 6. This was an important landmark, for the first time in Italy people affirmed their right to establish a secular school for young children. In the same year it was suggested to the Municipality that it should take on responsibility for those preschools which had been established since 1945. Following protracted negotiations the early preschools became part of the Municipal network between 1967 and 1973 (Barazzoni 2000).
Loris Malaguzzi recalls this period in the development of the preschools as the stage when the schools recognised the need to engage with the community of Reggio Emilia to win their trust and respect.
Once a week we would transport the school to town. Literally, we would pack ourselves, the children, and our tools into a truck and we would teach school and show exhibits in the open air, in public parks or under the colonnade of the municipal theatre. The children were happy. The people saw; they were surprised and they asked questions.
(Malaguzzi1998: 52)
In 1970 the first infant-toddler centre, for children aged three months to three years, was opened by the Municipality in response to the demands of working mothers. To overcome the resistance of the church, and the fear that this would lead to the breakdown of family structures, the centres were described as providers of early childhood education in environments that were appropriate to the children's developmental level.
Political opposition to the existence of the Municipal Preschools of Reggio Emilia, and all that they stood for, lasted until 1976 when Gustavo Selva, a national radio commentator, launched a seven day offensive against the early childhood policies of the municipality. In answer to this attack, the preschools were opened up to public scrutiny and debate for a period of several months. The parents and the community confirmed their support for the guiding principles of the Reggio Approach to early childhood education, creating the strong reciprocal relationship between the preschools and the community which exists today.
During the 1980s the network of preschools and infant-toddler centres had increased in number to 21 preschools and 13 infant-toddler centres, catering for 50 per cent of three to six year olds and 30 per cent of babies and toddlers in the area (Reggio Children 1999). By 2004 this had increased to 22 preschools and 24 infant -toddler centres. There is now close collaboration municipal, state and private preschool of a religious order, to plan new places, provide information for parents and provide professional development opportunities for teachers. The organisation of the preschools and infant-toddler centres is looked at in detail in Chapter Two.
