Reggio International Network Meeting

“Knowing where you are, where you find yourself, helps you to develop a sense of your own identity and your place in the world….Every place has its own spirit, its own past and its own aspirations,” Jerome Bruner.

We found ourselves recently, and ‘found ourselves’ being the crucial words, attending the Reggio Children International Network meeting at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre in Reggio Emilia Italy. For those of you who have had the privilege, and it is truly a privilege to visit the infant toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia, you will understand when I say we ‘found ourselves’. Not only did we physically find ourselves in this beautiful city in Northern Italy which has become a beacon of light for early childhood care and education internationally, we found ourselves metaphorically in the thoughts and discussions with our international partners and colleagues. This opportunity to represent Early Childhood Ireland – the Irish international Partners of the Reggio Children International Network – offered time to reflect at both a personal and professional level on our own sense of identity and place in the world.

The international network has thirty four members, representing countries across the world at the 2014 meeting, by members from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Korea, Costa Rica, Denmark, India, Ireland, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Singapore, south Africa, Sweden, UK, and the USA. Each country was represented by two people, and the theme for discussion and presentation was ‘ Identities in dialogue’.

Contributors to the discussion included Amelia Gambetti,  Carla Rinaldi, Vea Vecchi and others from Reggio. The meeting also included  a presentation from each of the countries represented. These presentations offered insight into the context of early childhood care and education in each country, highlighting that many of the issues experienced in Ireland are similar across the globe. I was reminded of a quote, “The world is changing, a world no longer made up of islands, of intervals and spaces, of oceans and mountains, but a world made of networks….”(Loris Malaguzzi, 1990).

Malaguzzi saw the world as being made up of networks within an overall system, the world. This view is reflected in the view of the infant toddler centres and preschools in Reggio Emilia as outlined in the document ‘Indications’. Indications is the framework document, similar to the Preschool childcare regulations in Ireland which governs the essential elements for the operation of the infant toddler centres and preschools in Reggio Emilia. The document identifies an essential characteristic of the schools as being “Qualified in a system of relationships”.This underpinning principle places the infant toddler centres and schools in a position where they are constantly engaged in developing a close relationship with the territory and are interacting and collaborating with the entire system of culture, education, and economics which promote the rights and potentials of all children.

When we consider Regulation 5, the whole child perspective, Aistear the national curriculum framework and Siolta the national quality framework, the underpinning principles which influence how we work with children in Ireland on a daily basis have many similarities. The discussions over the three days with our network colleagues reinforced for us that “Every place has its own spirit, its own past and its own aspirations.”  And it is within this context that we work with young children in early childhood care and education services in Ireland.

 Following the international meeting we also attended The 19th National Seminar “Education is / and politics”.
“Well- being, civil living together and equity can be realised only putting two words into action: Education and Politics. Educational Places, starting from the infant toddler centres and the preschools, have the task to nurture the growth of responsible citizens and for this reason, these places need good political choices in order to create the necessary conditions to have this role.

The existence of the services and the perspectives for the future ask for:

• Policies that recognize and share the ethical, cultural and economic value that is expressed by the educational action.

• A pedagogy able to interpret the social and political dynamics.

The keynote speakers for this national conference included James Heckman, economist, Nobel Prize winner 2000, Peter Moss Emeritus Professor of Pedagogy, University of London, Gunilla Dahlberg , Institute of Pedagogy Stockholm, Carla Rinaldi, President of Reggio Children and many more.

In our next ezine I will share my thoughts on the National Conference, in the meantime we are working on a section on our website to give visibility to our relationship as the Irish representative of Reggio Children International network.

If you wish to read more about the approach to early childhood care and education in Reggio Emilia, Early Childhood Ireland are delighted to be the Irish distributor for books developed by and with Reggio Children.