New AREA resource:

Reimagine education: Reggio Emilia inspiration in Africa

This 48-page booklet is an invitation to take your teaching practice deeper, a provocation to relook (and maybe even rethink) the organisation of your own classroom or school.

In its pages we unpack the 12 principles of the Reggio Emilia approach in a format that’s easy to read (and hopefully understand). We take a big-picture look at the overarching theory of each principle, give you a sense of how the principle works in practice, and end with suggestions for how you might take inspiration from this principle in your own school or teaching practice.

We also show you what’s possible in local contexts, by sharing images and examples of South African schools and teachers who are inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach and working to put it into practice.

Commissioned by the board of the Africa Reggio Emilia Alliance
Editors: Tessa Browne and Des Hugo
Writer: Judith Browne
Designer: Kevin Shelley Davis
Published: October 2018
Pages: 48
ISBN 978-0-620-81744-8

This booklet is available through AREA’s professional development initiatives – our workshops, conferences, study tours and school visits. Contact tessa@reggio.co.za for more details.

isiZulu and Sesotho versions of “Reimagine Education: Reggio Emilia inspiration in Africa” were launched in October 2021.

AREA’s resources

• Reimagine education: Reggio Emilia inspiration in Africa
• 2018 highlights from the Africa Reggio Emilia Alliance
• Resilience, research, renewal: 2018 conference notes (keynote speaker: Paola Strozzi)
• 2017 at a glance: memory traces of the year
• A collection of insights and advice from Tiziana Filippini shared during her 2017 visit to SA
• A short report of Tiziana Filippini’s 2017 visit
• A snapshot of the 2017 AREA conference
• Thoughts, questions and reminders emerging out of the 2017 conference

AREA member communication

• October 2017 newsletter: Building on a history of friendship
• July 2017 newsletter: Participation is an invitation

Books and audiovisuals

Reggio Children regularly publishes books and audiovisual materials on their philosophy and practice. Wherever possible, AREA tries to ensure copies of these materials are available in South Africa. If you’d like to purchase a particular book or audiovisual piece locally, contact tessa@reggio.co.za to find out if it’s in stock.

• Access to Reggio Children materials here.

Videos

• Reggio Children has made a wealth of audiovisual material available for free on YouTube. Watch their videos.

Free resources

• • The role of the atelierista: An interview with Vea Vecchi, conducted by Lella Gandini
  • Reggio Emilia inspired philosophical teacher education in the Anthropocene (a paper by Karin Murris, Rose-Anne Reynolds and Joanne Peers, published in the Journal of Childhood Studies in 2018)
  • The Contribution of Documentation to the Quality of Early Childhood Education (a 1996 paper by Lilian Katz and Sylvia Chard)
  • Documentation: Both Mirror and Light (a paper by Pam Oken-Wright, published in Innovations in Early Education)
  • For an Education Based on Relationships (a piece by Loris Malaguzzi, translated by Lella Gandini, and published in 1993)
  • Understanding Loris Malaguzzi: A short introduction to his work and legacy (a free e-book made available by Routledge and Reggio Children)
  • Teacher research in Reggio Emilia, Italy: Essence of a dynamic, evolving role (a paper by Carolyn Pope Edwards from University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Lella Gandini, published in Voices of Practitioners: Teacher Research in Early Childhood Education in 2015)
  • Democratic Participation in a Community of Learners: Loris Malaguzzi’s Philosophy of Education as Relationship (a 1995 paper from Carolyn Pope Edwards from University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
  • Three Approaches from Europe: Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emilia (a paper by Carolyn Pope Edwards from University of Nebraska at Lincoln, published in Early Childhood Research and Practice, Spring 2002, vol. 4, no. 1)
  • Your Image of the Child: Where Teaching Begins (an article by Loris Malaguzzi, adapted from a seminar delivered in Reggio Emilia, Italy in June 1993, and published by the Child Care Information Exchange)
  • A Bill of Rights: The rights of children, teachers and parent in the pre-schools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, Italy.
  • Loris Malaguzzi and the Teachers: Dialogues on collaboration and conflict among children, Reggio Emilia 1990 (an e-book co-authored by Carolyn Edwards from University of Nebraska at Lincoln, John Nimmo from Wheelock College, and Lella Gandini, the United States liaison for the dissemination of the Reggio Emilia approach)
  • Reggio Children publishes Rechild, a bilingual periodic developed in response to the international demand for information, in-depth analysis and exchanges about education and childhood. Find the most recent edition here.
  • The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance has amassed a wealth of free resources on the approach, which can be accessed here.
  • Sightlines Initiative in the UK has compiled a few introductory articles and videos to get you started. Access them here.