Description
If you’re based in the ACT, this package is a 7-hour TQI Accredited professional learning program.
The series contains four parts:
- Encounter 1—Not just any place
- Encounter 2—Seeing things differently
- Encounter 3—Teachers and children as researchers
- Encounter 4—Pedagogy, a context for research
The Encounter courses are only available as a collection and cannot be purchased separately.
Completing Encountering and interpreting the principles of Reggio Emilia Encounters will contribute 7 hours of PD addressing 3 and 6 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
This course is not available as a part of a Standard Learning Hub Annual Subscription.
About the Author
Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange (REAIE) is an Australian not-for-profit membership organisation and is honoured to be a long-standing invited member of the Reggio Children International Network, Italy. REAIE draws on the Reggio Emilia experience as the ongoing catalyst for thinking, research and advocacy in Australian educational settings. It promotes the rights and potentials of children and facilitates national and international dialogue and debate about education.
REAIE was established in 1994 to provide an opportunity for dialogue about education in Australia. The dialogue responds to the provocations from the educators in Reggio Emilia in relation to learning and teaching. Initially established by Jan Millikan (OAM), REAIE became an incorporated organisation in June 2000. The organisation has grown to include many network groups throughout Australia. There are over 3000 participants in REAIE from Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, representing educators from preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary organisations as well as policy makers, graphic and performance artists, designers and educational architects.
The REAIE Mission is to ‘research for a culture of childhood’ in response to the educational project of Reggio Emilia and explore its implications for Australian contexts.
REAIE makes a commitment to:
- defend and promote the rights of all children
- promote a strong and positive image of children as citizens and active participants in democratic communities
- promote dialogue, professional learning and research about the educational project of Reggio Emilia
- advocate for social justice and democracy in education, giving priority to active, constructive and creative learning by children
- promote the critical role of research, observation, documentation and interpretation of children’s processes of action and thought
- sustain and strengthen the relationship between REAIE and Reggio Children and continue to be the national Reggio Emilia reference organisation in Australia.
Learning Intentions
| Encounter 1—Not just any place
The first Encounter or part provides an overview of the educational project of Reggio Emilia and the context, culture and complexity of this educational approach. The next two Encounters will build on this initial information with an in-depth exploration of several of the important concepts of the project through interpretations from Australian educators. In the first Encounter, entitled ‘Not just any place’, you will learn: · information about the geographical, historical, social and cultural aspects of the city of Reggio Emilia · insights into the educational project of Reggio Emilia’s pedagogical approach to learning and teaching, including some of the why, what and how of the project. |
| Encounter 2—Seeing things differently
In the second Encounter, ‘Seeing things differently’, you will be offered information about some of the pedagogical choices made by educators who work in the municipal early childhood centres in Reggio Emilia and Australian interpretations of this approach, including: · the role of research and educational documentation · the importance of the environment in learning · the question of ‘What is knowledge?’ · the metaphor of the ‘Hundred Languages’ · progettazione. You will also be given the opportunity to consider pedagogical research and will be invited to consider ways that these choices link to daily practice. |
| Encounter 3—Teachers and children as researchers
In the third Encounter, ‘Teachers and children as researchers’, we delve deeper into some of the strategies for designing and understanding the learning and teaching that the educators of the educational project of Reggio Emilia engage in as part of their day-to-day work with children. In the third Encounter, you will build on previous understandings of: · children as co-constructors of learning · listening as the basis for all learning · the possibility of seeing our use of time differently · progettazione as a strategy for designing learning and teaching · the role of collaboration, documentation and educational research. You will also be given the opportunity to complete the online learning journal and reflect back on your learning and experience throughout the Encounters. |
| Encounter 4—Pedagogy, a context for research
In this Encounter, ‘Pedagogy, a context for research’, some of the theoretical underpinnings, values, practices and language of the educational project of Reggio Emilia will be examined in greater depth, although it should be kept in mind that the educational project of Reggio Emilia is always evolving. In the fourth Encounter, you will have the opportunity to: · reflect deeply on your understanding of some of the terms used in the educational project of Reggio Emilia · move away from common misunderstandings and stereotypes that have become synonymous with the educational project of Reggio Emilia · construct new meanings and interpretations of the principles, practices and values of the educational project of Reggio Emilia. |
