3 Ideas From Reggio Emilia That A Nursery Teacher Can Apply

By Author: Sejal
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The Reggio Emilia Approach is a unique type of educational philosophy that focuses on primary education and is commonly used by nursery schools in Mumbai. Coined after the neighbourhood where the approach was first formulated, Reggio Emilia was actually developed in Italy by a psychologist named Loris Malaguzzi after World War II. The approach was created in order to give children a new and progressive way of learning that they would immensely benefit from. After the war, teachers and families believed that children needed innovative and creative ways of learning in order to nurture and cultivate their young mindsets to grow up to be positive contributors to society.

There are many nursery schools in Mumbai that have also taken up this approach and believe that this is a great tried and tested play way method to inculcate in their curriculums. This approach allows children to express themselves in various ways in order to develop their personalities. There are a plethora of activities that are encouraged in this method like painting, drawing, sculpting, drama. The point of this approach is to allow children to use these ...
... creative ways as ‘languages’. In this way, children engage in meaningful learning experiences which go on to instill a love for learning. This approach also uses a webbing technique about various related topics, encouraging kids to interconnect the topics. For instance, take a topic of rain - then the imagination leads them from the colours of a rainbow to refraction making association techniques between subjects. The approach encourages giving multiple choices to the child.

There are several principles in the Reggio Emilia approach that make it the perfect choice for even the best nursery schools in Mumbai to inculcate. Since this approach originated in Italy, a lot of the principles are customised by the best preschools of Mumbai to suit the Indian context. Here are some of the ideas that nursery schools in Mumbai and around the world can learn from this approach:

1. Image of the child - This is a phrase very commonly used in Reggio Emilia. It is the belief of positive reinforcement for children to motivate them and develop a keen sense of learning every single day. For instance, at many nursery schools in Mumbai teachers jot down three inspirational words, like “capable”, “competent” and “creative”, and stick it up on the board. These words will set the tone, guiding the day, activities and the environment.

2. Giving project works - This allows children to explore the area of their interests and bring forward authentic engagement to life. Project work fosters topics that interest children and their mentors and gets them to learn more in that area of interest. This principle allows children to communicate more, ask questions, and explore a lot, leading them to gain a hands-on learning experience whilst creating opportunities for children to learn in a deeply integrated way.

3. Environment as a teacher - There is a reason why in the top preschools nursery or kindergarten classroom you find so many worksheets stuck and pinned on the walls. This is done to stimulate the learning and memory of children. Children’s work being displayed on classroom walls depicts that the kindergarten cares about their children’s creative capacities.

There are many ideas from the Reggio Emilia approach that the best nursery schools in Mumbai cultivate in their curriculums. This approach allows children to avail the most creative and innovative learning experiences during their early childhood education.