The Princess of Wales' visit to Italy has brought international attention to the Reggio Approach, an innovative early childhood educational model that originated in the northern Italian city of Reggio Emilia. This progressive method, which shuns standardization and testing, values a child's innate curiosity and potential, with teachers serving as facilitators rather than instructors. Parents and the broader community are also actively engaged in the learning process.
Princess Catherine, who has championed early childhood development as her signature cause, is spending two days observing the approach firsthand. "I love that you put children and childhood at the heart of the community, and I'm really fascinated to learn more about it," she remarked upon arriving at a local preschool on Wednesday.
The Reggio Approach, which partially evolved from the Montessori philosophy, has spread worldwide as a counterpoint to education systems in countries like the United States and Britain that emphasize standardization and testing for very young children. However, some Italian parents who experienced rote learning themselves find the approach appealing only up to a point, according to Kathryn Ramsay, a longtime early-childhood educator who runs a Reggio-inspired project north of Rome. "When the children are 3 or 4, they're totally fine with it," Ramsay said. "And then when they hit 5, they (the parents) start getting a little twitchy because they're thinking about Grade 1," when children are expected to sit still and learn to read and write.
A Postwar Approach to Childcare
The Reggio Approach emerged after World War II, when a group of mothers in war-torn Reggio Emilia, a center of anti-Fascist resistance, joined forces. "They 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," said Margie Cooper of the North America Reggio Emilia Alliance.
Innovative pedagogical expert Loris Malaguzzi built on Montessori and other educational reform movements to articulate Reggio's child-centered approach, which serves children aged 0-6. His poem exploring how young children communicate through drawing, painting, dancing, and singing became a manifesto. At the time, valuing children's capacities and experiences was revolutionary. "The child was only an adult in formation and didn't have things to say or competencies already realized," said Roberta Cardarello, senior professor of didactical and special pedagogy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
The approach spread to other towns, particularly in northern Italy's left-leaning municipalities. However, Italy's central government in Rome, led by conservative Christian Democrats until the 1990s, resisted widespread promotion, possibly due to its association with Reggio Emilia's communist history. Today, that political stigma has faded, but adoption often depends on whether cash-strapped local administrations invest in training or teachers have independently trained, according to Elisabetta Nigris, professor of didactic programs and evaluation at the University of Studies Milan-Bicocca.
How Reggio Works and Its Outcomes
Reggio employs features common in high-quality programs, including a focus on relationships between adults and children that promote 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 higher high school graduation and employment rates compared to children who did not receive formal childcare.
Children typically spend multiple years with the same teacher and participate in meal preparation. Classrooms feature windows and natural materials like wood, with gardens and artwork as staples. On Thursday, Catherine visited the "Salvatore Allende" daycare and preschool in Reggio Emilia, playing with children in the garden, using a magnifying glass to examine grass, and even letting a slimy newt crawl in her hand. "In London, we have newts like this too," she said.
Catherine's visit is significant for Britain, as the Reggio Approach is not recognized in national educational policy, and most early childhood programs are run by private for-profit organizations, noted Peter Moss, emeritus professor at University College London's Institute of Education. However, he stressed that Reggio developed in a specific historical context that is hard to replicate. "Reggio 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 'How do we make sure that never happens again?'"
A Reggio-Inspired Center Called Wild Joy
At Ramsay's Reggio-inspired, bilingual project north of Rome, there is a large grassy garden but no typical playground equipment or bright decorative posters. Instead, a tiny log cabin with a covered porch is spare and neutral-toned. Most learning takes place outdoors: a "mud kitchen" where children play with dishes, a digging pit, and a big rock to climb and slide down. Called "Wild Gioia" (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. "They don't learn to concentrate by being told what to concentrate on," she said. "They're learning to concentrate by having the freedom to be able to follow their own interests."
