REGGIO EMILIA, Italy (AP) 鈥� visit to Italy has put the spotlight on an Italian early childhood educational model that helped revolutionize .
The Reggio Approach, used in public daycare centers and preschools in the northern city of Reggio Emilia, values a child鈥檚 inherent curiosity and potential, with teachers acting as facilitators, not instructors, and parents and the surrounding community actively involved. And Princess Catherine, who has made early development her signature cause, is spending two days seeing it up close.
鈥淚 love that you put children and childhood at the heart of the community, and I鈥檓 really fascinated to learn more about it,鈥� she said as she arrived at one of the town鈥檚 preschools on Wednesday.
Reggio partially grew out of the Montessori philosophy and both Italian approaches have spread around the world, standing as counterpoints to models . and Britain that emphasize standardization and testing for children so young they haven鈥檛 begun to read.
Reggio appeals to some Italian parents who themselves received education with rote learning 鈥� but only to a point, according to Kathryn Ramsay, a longtime early-childhood educator who runs a Reggio-inspired project north of Rome.
鈥淲hen the children are 3 or 4, they鈥檙e totally fine with it,鈥� Ramsay said. 鈥淎nd then when they hit 5, they (the parents) start getting a little twitchy because they鈥檙e thinking about Grade 1,鈥� when children have to sit still for longer periods and learn to read and write.
A postwar approach to childcare
The Reggio Approach was born as Italy began to rebuild after World War II and a group of mothers in hard-hit Reggio Emilia, a center of anti-Fascist resistance, banded together.
鈥淭hey sold the metal from a German tank for funds and they hand-carried stones from the river to reconstruct a place for the children to be cared for while the rest of the village went about the business of putting life back together,鈥� said Margie Cooper of the North America Reggio Emilia Alliance.
An innovative pedagogical expert, Loris Malaguzzi, built on Montessori and other educational reform movements to help articulate Reggio鈥檚 child-centered approach, which covers children aged 0-6.
His poem exploring how young children communicate and make sense of their world through drawing, painting, dancing and singing served as something of a manifesto. Valuing the capacities and experiences of children was unheard of at the time.
鈥淭he child was only an adult in formation and didn鈥檛 have things to say or competencies already realized,鈥� said Roberta Cardarello, senior professor of didactical and special pedagogy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
The Reggio Approach spread to other towns, especially in the north鈥檚 left-leaning municipalities. But Italy鈥檚 central government in Rome 鈥� headed by conservative Christian Democrats until the 1990s 鈥� resisted promoting it widely, perhaps because of its association with Reggio Emilia鈥檚 communist history.
Today, that red scare is gone, but the model鈥檚 adoption often depends on whether cash-strapped local administrations invest in training or teachers have trained independently, according to Elisabetta Nigris, professor of didactic programs and evaluation at the University of Studies Milan-Bicocca.
How Reggio works and what are its outcomes
Reggio employs features common in high-quality programs, including a focus on adults and children in relationship that promotes social and emotional well-being, according to Sylvi Kuperman, senior researcher at the Center for the Economics of Human Development at the University of Chicago. Her 2017 study on Reggio in Italy found greater high school graduation and employment outcomes compared to kids who didn鈥檛 receive formal childcare.
Children typically spend multiple years with the same teacher, she said. They participate in meal preparation. Classrooms feature windows and natural materials, like wood. Gardens and artwork are a staple.
On Thursday, Catherine visited the 鈥淪alvatore Allende鈥� daycare and preschool in Reggio Emilia, playing with children in the garden, using a magnifying glass to look in the grass and at one point letting a slimy newt crawl in her hand.
鈥淚n London, we have newts like this too,鈥� she said.
Catherine鈥檚 visit is significant for Britain, since the Reggio Approach isn鈥檛 recognized in its national educational policy, and most early childhood programs are run by private organizations for profit, said Peter Moss, emeritus professor at the University College London鈥檚 Institute of Education.
But he stressed that Reggio developed in a very particular time and context that is hard to replicate.
鈥淩eggio Emilia is a reaction to 20 years of authoritarian rule under Mussolini and, after that fell, of course a lot of places in Italy were asking the question 鈥橦ow do we make sure that never happens again?鈥欌��
A Reggio-inspired center called Wild Joy
At Ramsay鈥檚 Reggio-inspired, bilingual project north of Rome, there is a large grassy garden but no typical playground equipment or bright decorative posters lining the schoolhouse walls. Rather, the tiny log cabin with a covered porch is spare and neutral-toned. Most learning takes place outside: the 鈥渕ud kitchen,鈥� where kids play at a table with dishes, a digging pitch, a big rock to climb up and slide down in the dirt. Called 鈥淲ild Gioia鈥� (Wild Joy), it currently has five children enrolled, aged 3-6.
Ramsay points to evidence suggesting that the best preparation for reading and writing is play, because it teaches children to concentrate.
鈥淭hey don鈥檛 learn to concentrate by being told what to concentrate on,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning to concentrate by having the freedom to be able to follow their own interests.鈥�
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Winfield reported from Rome. Hollingsworth reported from Kansas City, MO.
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