Reggio Emilia As Cultural Activity Theory in Practice

Abstract

This article situates Reggio Emilia's municipally funded early childhood program within the city's cultural traditions of resistance and collaboration and considers what it is about this highly localized program that is appealing and useful to contemporary school reform initiatives. Five features of Reggio Emilia's approach to early education are described: an interpretation of teachers as researchers, curriculum as long-term projects, the role of symbolic languages in child development and advocacy, the role of the environment, and an interpretation of parents as partners in the educational enterprise. Other features of the city's hard work–specifically, its capacity to make ideas visible and its emphasis on relations among adults as well as children–are identified as central to Reggio Emilia's continued influence on the field. The article concludes with a proposal to consider schools as cites where reform initiatives can be informed by principles and practices from Reggio Emilia.

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