People across the world have heard about the pre-schools of Reggio Emilia, which were set up in the Italian province of the same name in the years following the Second World War. Today, they remain a bastion of world-leading practice, with a ‘pedagogy of listening’ to and valuing children.
Reggio schools were founded by members of the Union of Italian Women (UDI), an anti-fascist association founded in 1944, and the Catholic Italian Women's Centre, as a direct response to the war. These self-managed pre-schools promoted a new values-based type of learning, based on open dialogue and mutual respect, equality and self-confidence, all essential in resisting oppressive institutions and tyranny. These ‘formed a cultural and social legacy that would become integral to the identity of Reggio Emilia's future educational project’ (www.reggiochildren.it).
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