ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the environment shapes learning and development and argues this is key to supporting cognitive development. The chapter reveals how this view was influenced when visiting the international centre at Reggio Emilia in Italy – an experience which transformed thinking about approaches to pedagogy and the way an adult engages with children. This experience provided the stimulus to engage in a research-based study exploring how a leader could co-construct learning with children, educators and the community in an English setting using pedagogic leadership. It presents findings from that study which shed light on the dynamic interdependence that makes for successful and sustainable co-constructed learning, especially the importance of forging democratic relations between a team of educators.
