The Role of the
Pedagogista
in Reggio Emilia
offers unparalleled insight into dialectic encounters between teachers,
pedagogistas,
and
atelieristas
in the world-renowned municipal early childhood services of the city of Reggio Emilia. It sheds light on the system and culture that cares for and sustains an enduring educational experience, for the common good.
Emerging from a collaborative research project with Reggio Children and the Preschools and Infant-toddler Centres – Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, this book features in-depth observations of
pedagogistas
, teachers, and
atelieristas,
as well as interviews with key figures in Reggio Emilia. Children’s learning is thoughtfully emphasised, as the authors render the inextricable connection between theory-practice-research
,
framing documentation and
progettazione
as artful collective experimentation.
The authors illuminate how Reggio Emilia’s system sustains reciprocal professional formation through
progettazione,
contesting dominant marketplace discourses of early childhood education as a commodity and re-imagining settings driven by values of reciprocity, artistry, culture, and the common good.
By troubling conventional views on education and care, professionalism of teachers, and educational leadership, this book will appeal to all those who long for something different and hope to shift the field of possibility for early childhood education culturally, socially, pedagogically, and politically. It will be a key resource for teachers, leaders, policy makers, and scholars in the whole field of education.