Reggio Emilia approach

Our approach is inspired by the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy founded by Loris Malaguzzi.

Reggio Emilia is a town in northern Italy where a unique approach to early childhood education was established after World War II.

Main principles

Children are creative, curious and capable of constructing their own learning.

Children have a hundred languages to express their ideas, thoughts and emotions.

Children learn through collaboration and communication with other children and adults.

Creative process is an effective learning experience.

The interests of children guide the curriculum.

The role of an adult is to act as a mentor and a guide.

Parents are active partners in the child’s learning process.

Environment is the third teacher: children need inspiring orderly spaces to help them learn.

Documenting children’s work helps to understand and guide the learning process better.

"The Hundred Languages"

by Loris Malaguzzi, founder of Reggio Emilia approach

No way. The hundred is there.

The child
is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.