ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the origins of the preschools in the town of Reggio Emilia in Northern Italy. It reflects on Loris Malaguzzi's social constructivist perspective with its unique emphasis on the rights and responsibilities of its three main co-constructors of the Reggio Emilia early years' education framework: children, parents and teachers. The chapter considers the concept of the rich child and childhood embedded in the Reggio Emilia approach, opening the way for parents, teachers and children to become equal partners and co-constructors. It explores the unique role of the teacher in the Reggio Emilia framework, as researcher, facilitator and pedagogue. The Reggio Emilia project began with preschools and was later extended to include infant/toddler centres in 1970. The Anglo-American neo-liberal context tends towards the analytical, reductionist and decontextualised compared to the holistic, dynamic and relational world view of the inhabitants of the Reggio Centres. The chapter explores democracy of the Reggio Emilia approach.
