Category: Reggio Emilia

Head Start and Reggio Emilia are two programs that are based on the strong cooperation between families and schools. Head Start is aimed at working with low-income families, and the program is based on the schedule developed by educators with references to parents expectations. Thus, Head Start educators work to involve families in school activities because the focus is also on the provision of social support for such children and parents.

Moreover, parents are involved in learning activities at home because these tasks are usually assigned to address individual childrens needs and specific family goals. The high level of involvement is also expected because of the regular contacts between families and educators. On the contrary, the curriculum in Reggio Emilia is more creative, and it is based on childrens interests (Scully, Barbour, & Roberts-King, 2014). As a result, parents are mostly involved in entertainment events that can be infrequent. Participation in childrens learning activities at home is associated with the development of the childrens creative potential and the work on projects.

The benefits of Head Start are in possibilities to guarantee the constant collaboration between vulnerable families and educators to address childrens needs regularly. Reggio Emilia can be attractive to families that plan to address the developmental needs of children with a focus on the flexible curriculum and creative activities (Scully et al., 2014).

However, the challenge is in the fact that the involvement of parents is voluntary, and more attention can be paid to increase their interest in childrens activities. While discussing these programs as appropriate for the concrete community, it is possible to state that Head Start can be more successful in the community where the percentage of low-income families is high as it is developed to improve the family engagement and to guarantee the provision of all necessary educational and social services.

Reference

Scully, P. A., Barbour, C., & Roberts-King, H. (2014). Families, schools, and communities: Building partnerships for educating children. New York, NY: Pearson. Web.

Introduction

The Reggio Emilia Approach is a philosophy based on education, whose main focus is on preschool and primary education. It originated from Italy around Reggio Emilia city after the Second World War, and was pioneered by Loris Malaguzzi. Parents from this region believed that the devastation that resulted from the war called for an innovative and fast approach of teaching their children. They considered the fact that children develop most of their individual character traits during the early years of growth, and hence the need to create a program based on the code of accountability, esteem, and interaction by means of exploration and invention. The program has produced an accommodating and elevating environment based on the children’s interests through a self-guided curriculum that has purposive progression. The approach requires that children learn best by interacting with other people such as parents, peers and staff in a pleasant atmosphere. The Reggio Emilia philosophy requires that, children must be in command over the direction of their learning, they must be able to learn through experiences of seeing, touching, listening, hearing, and moving, they should have a rapport with other children and with physical items in the world and they must be allowed to explore. Due to its respect to the child, early childhood programs have adapted to this educational philosophy (Dower 5).

Discussion

Parents are a vital component to the Reggio Emilia philosophy. They are perceived as associates, coworkers and supporters of their children. Teachers value parents as the child’s first teacher and engage them in the studies.

Teachers are committed to enhancing their understanding of children is at the root of the Reggio Emilia approach. They provide widespread staff development opportunities and determine the goals. They skillfully monitor the children for the appropriate development of the curriculum, its planning and implementation. The program of study is highly characterized by many aspects advocated by up to date research on little children for creative judgment and discovery(Dower 6).

Global citizenship refers to the assent of citizenship on a global stage. It is also the moral and ethical nature which guides the perception of people in their local or global situations reminding them of their responsibilities within their communities. Globalization has played a crucial role in creating the social and intellectual environment in which global citizenship has flourished. Globalization deals with how social relations have become de-linked from a particular nation and become an issue of one global village. Education is directly related to economic growth. It has become a global issue that calls for global citizenship response. This is because; the impact of education affects the whole world. There are several things that all the stakeholders in education can do in order to improve education, and hence increase the rate of economic growth worldwide. To achieve this, global responsibility is a major concern (Dower 10).

Reggio-Emilia’s approach supports the development of a global-citizenship. This is because, the approach focuses on developing customized and integrated auxiliary curriculum worldwide. It emphasizes on the aspect of multiculturalism and connects children and educators globally. The comprehensive integration of sustainability principles in the curriculum is an essential component to an individual’s role as a world citizen. The approach uses innovative and research based education philosophies for the overall development of children. It creates confidence through global exposure and leadership opportunities, offering continuous global research based education delivered through activity based practical experiments making children understand key concepts in language independent format. Practical activity based lessons make them very relevant and helps them understand the lessons at an age where grasping is maximum. In addition, the education approach has heavy community involvement.

Conclusion

Indeed, the future belongs to the empowered global citizens who understand the cultures, languages, dreams and languages of all humanity(“Reggio Emilia Approach” para 5-7).

Works Cited

Dower, Nigel. An Introduction to Global Citizenship. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, n.d. Print.

“Reggio Emilia Approach,” Brainy-child.com. 2009. Web.

Introduction

Environment consists of what surrounds us. It is a very important component since it influences the way an individual grows and develops. While to adults, environment may not be of much importance; for a developing child it is very important.

According to Kerka (1999), an environment which provides children with learning opportunities is very important since it gives them a chance to investigate and explore the world around them. The importance of the environment to a developing child (one at preschool and also in primary school level) shall be discussed using the Reggio Emilia approach.

The Reggio Emilia approach

The Reggio Emilia approach focuses on the importance of the learning environment to a child and how it affects how the child learns and relates with other people.

The approach indicates that it is always important for children to be able in a way to control how they conduct their education. This would be easier if the environment could offer opportunities through which the developing child could learn through touching and seeing.

The approach tries to promote the intellectual development of the child through a systematic focus on images and symbolic representation. The approach also notes that it is very important for the children as they develop, they be exposed to an environment which allows them to express themselves freely without feeling intimidated.

The approach also indicates that the environment should allow developing children to explore and discover the relationship between them and others as well as the surrounding environment (New, 2000). The curriculum focuses on interactions which move in line with the children interests. The ability of the environment to construct a knowledge base through which children are able to interact with leads to it being referred as the third teacher.

The importance of the learning environment

The importance of the environment in which a child develops in depends on the services that it is able to provide the child with. One of the major importance lies on its ability to give a child a space through which he or she can have a meaning and relate to. In this case, the environment offers various experiences and it is through these experiences that children are able to change the way they relate to each other, experience different life experiences and change their way of thinking towards some issues.

An environment through which a child develops also affects learning and relationships due to the different surrounding which a child is exposed to. For example, if we take an example of preschool, when children are exposed to others at young ages; they are able to learn through playing, photographs, pictures and so on. They interact freely and this gives them a chance of being innovative.

In this case, the environment offers them a comfortable space where they are able to learn from each other. When the same kind of environment is provided in the classroom, the children are able to learn since the environment communicates and engages with them efficiently.

Another importance of environment lies in its ability to provide the aesthetic value to the developing child. Aesthetic value enables children early in their development stages to express their feelings using colors, drawings and design.

It is important to note that the aesthetic value of the environment does not have to be achieved by visiting places like museums rather the materials provided in the classroom can be able to provide this kind of environment. The way the environment is organized helps the child in concentrating on whatever activities they are engaged in. It also motivates the child in doing work in creative ways.

References

Kerka, S. (1999). Creativity in adulthood. Washington, D.C. Office of Educational Research and Improvement. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED429 186.

New, R. S. (2000). Reggio Emilia: Catalyst for Change and Conversation. ERIC Digest. Web.

Head Start and Reggio Emilia are two programs that are based on the strong cooperation between families and schools. Head Start is aimed at working with low-income families, and the program is based on the schedule developed by educators with references to parents’ expectations. Thus, Head Start educators work to involve families in school activities because the focus is also on the provision of social support for such children and parents.

Moreover, parents are involved in learning activities at home because these tasks are usually assigned to address individual children’s needs and specific family goals. The high level of involvement is also expected because of the regular contacts between families and educators. On the contrary, the curriculum in Reggio Emilia is more creative, and it is based on children’s interests (Scully, Barbour, & Roberts-King, 2014). As a result, parents are mostly involved in entertainment events that can be infrequent. Participation in children’s learning activities at home is associated with the development of the children’s creative potential and the work on projects.

The benefits of Head Start are in possibilities to guarantee the constant collaboration between vulnerable families and educators to address children’s needs regularly. Reggio Emilia can be attractive to families that plan to address the developmental needs of children with a focus on the flexible curriculum and creative activities (Scully et al., 2014).

However, the challenge is in the fact that the involvement of parents is voluntary, and more attention can be paid to increase their interest in children’s activities. While discussing these programs as appropriate for the concrete community, it is possible to state that Head Start can be more successful in the community where the percentage of low-income families is high as it is developed to improve the family engagement and to guarantee the provision of all necessary educational and social services.

Reference

Scully, P. A., Barbour, C., & Roberts-King, H. (2014). Families, schools, and communities: Building partnerships for educating children. New York, NY: Pearson. Web.