All Our Futures

Imagine a world where educators, families, the community build education together with their children ...

• How can parents and educators work together to activate education fit for children?

• How can educators, parents and children communicate, value and share their learning?

A day exploring the vital experience of Reggio Emilia, a modern European city, for all concerned in defending and building education in the UK.

Reggio Emilia regards itself as 'a city of education.'  Since 1945 this experience has grown with parents, community, educators striving to grow and understand and prioritise, working closely together all the way.

In a period in the UK when educators and parents are finding a common voice to express what education should be like for their children, in a time when ‘policy’ is increasingly at odds with these visions, it is a time to learn and act.

The experience of the citizens of Reggio has much to say to us, in these times.
This day will explore the inspiring experience of parents and educators of Reggio Emilia learning and building schools together, brick by brick, and discovering how their preschool and primary education is being nurtured and made visible in the city. We will consider how the Reggiane experience can inform the efforts of UK educators and parents in creating intelligent education together.

Presentations by Moira Nicolosi, Reggio Emilia educator, with additional UK examples from Sightlines’ Network.

“Our goal is to build an amiable school, where children, teachers, and families feel at home.

Once a week we would transport the school to town. Literally, we would pack ourselves, the children, and our tools into a truck and we would teach school and show exhibits in the open air, in the square, in public parks,... The children were happy. The people saw; they were surprised and they asked questions.

The walls (of the schools) speak and document. The teachers work in co-teaching pairs in each classroom, and they plan with other colleagues and the families. ... The families meet by themselves or with the teachers, either in individual meetings, group meetings or whole school meetings. Families have formed an Advisory Council for each school that meets two or three times a month. The city, the countryside, and the nearby mountains serve as additional teaching sites.

All this ... produces for the adults, but above all for the children, a feeling of belonging in a world that is alive, welcoming and authentic.”

Loris Malaguzzi, founding pedagogue and director of Reggio Emilia’s preschools