Document Type : Research Paper
Author
Assistant Professor of Education Department, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The current research was conducted with the aim of explaining and interpreting the approach of Reggio Emilia based on the basic assumptions and beliefs of postmodern philosophy. Analytical-inferential method was used to conduct the research. The scope of the current research was all national and international written sources in the field of postmodern education and the Reggio Emilia approach, from which the most reliable sources were selected using a targeted sampling method. To answer the research question, the basic principles and features of Reggio Emilia's approach were described, explained and interpreted based on the four core features of postmodern philosophy. The first feature of postmodern philosophy (denying the centrality of the knowing agent) based on the concept of " progettazione", and paying attention to the teacher as a partner, nurturer and guide and not an omniscient; The second feature of postmodern philosophy (attention to language) based on the idea of "one hundred languages of children"; The third feature of postmodern philosophy (negation of totalitarianism) is based on challenging the idea of the transferability of the curriculum, paying attention to children's meaning-making skills, rejecting the idea of homogenization and dualistic thinking, and being based on inclusive education; And finally, the fourth characteristic of postmodern philosophy (paying attention to the element of otherness) was analyzed and interpreted based on the two concepts of "listening pedagogy" and "pedagogical documentation". Imitating or copying, Reggio Emilia's approach is neither possible nor desirable. However, knowing and analyzing the features and values governing this approach can bring valuable lessons for the reconstruction and reform of early childhood education in our country.
Keywords
Main Subjects
Amin Khandaghi, M.; Ghaderi, S. (2015). A Critical Approach to Postmoderne Curriculum. Foundations of Education, 5(1): 5-29. (in persian) https://doi.org/10.22067/FE.V5I1.28345
Asadi, H.; Shamshiri, B.; Yousefi, H. R.; Karimi, M. H. (2020). Features of a Peace-Axis Curriculum based on the Teaching of Intercultural Philosophy. Curriculum Research, 9(2): 104-138. (in persian) https://doi.org/10.22099/JCR.2019.5231
Bagheri, K. (1996). Education in Post modernism. Journal of Psychological and Educational Science, 2(1-4): 63-84. (in persian)
Bagheri, K. (2011). Research Approaches and Methods in Philosophy of Education. Tehran: Institute for Cultural and Social Studies. (in persian)
Berger, P. L.; Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. Nueva York.
Buain, O.; Pholphirul, P. (2022). Early childhood education and child development outcomes in developing countries: empirical evidence from Thailand. International Journal of Early Years Education, 30(2): 369-386. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2020.1733937
Cadwell, L. B. (2003). Bringing Learning to Life: The Reggio approach to early childhood education. Teachers College Press.
Carr, W. (1993). Professing Education in a Postmodern Age. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 31(2): 309-327. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9752.00058
Clark, P. (2014). Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Care and Education: Critical questions, new imaginaries and social activism: A reader. Teachers College Record.
Dahlberg, G.; Moss, P. (2021). Introduction: Our Reggio Emilia. In: Rinaldi, C. (2021). In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching and learning. Routledge. pp. XIV- xxxii.
Dahlberg, G. (1995). Everything is a beginning and everything is dangerous: Some reflections on the Reggio Emilia experience. Paper given at an international seminar Nostalgio del Futuro in honour of Loris Malaguzzi, Milan.
Dahlberg, G.; Moss, P.; Pence, A. (2007). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care: languages of evaluation (2nd Ed.). London: Falmer Press.
Dewey, J. (1938/1959). Experience and Education. New York: Macmillan.
Edwards, C. (1998). The role of the teacher. in: Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G (eds) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. pp. 178-198. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Edwards, C.; Gandini, L.; Forman, G. (eds) (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. pp.113–126. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Elkind, D. (1995). School and family in the postmodern world. Phi Delta Kappan, 77(1): 8.
Fathi Vajargah, K. (2013). Curriculum towards new identities: A description of contemporary theories of curriculum. Tehran: Aeij Publication. (in persian)
Filippini, T. (1990). The Reggio Emilia Approach. Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Washington, DC.
Gardner, H. (1998). Foreword: complementary perspectives on Reggio Emilia. in: Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G (eds) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation, pp. xv-xviii.
Ghaderi, M. (2010). Critical theory of education: criticism of modernity and late capitalism curriculum. Tehran: Yadavare Ketab. (in persian)
Gilman, S. (2007). Including the child with special needs: Learning from Reggio Emilia. Theory into Practice, 46(1): 23-31.
Gilmore, J. H.; Knickmeyer, R. C.; Gao, W. (2018). Imaging structural and functional brain development in early childhood. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(3): 123-137. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2018.1
Hall, S.; Gieben, B. (eds) (1992). Formations of Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press in association with Open University.
Hewett, V. M. (2001). Examining the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. Early childhood education journal, 29(2): 95-100. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012520828095
Katz, L. G.; Chard, S. G. (1989). Engaging children's minds. Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Khaleghinezhad, S.; Maleki, H.; hakimzadeh, R. (2015). Critique of postmodern viewpoint in curriculum based on philosophical foundations of Islamic education. Qualitative Research in Curriculum, 1(1): 41-60. (in persian) https://dx.doi.org/10.22054/qric.2015.1847
Krnjaja, Ž.; Breneselović, D. P. (2013). Quality Early Childhood Education Curriculum Framework in Postmodern Perspective. in: Despotović, M., & Hebib, E (eds) Contemporary Issues of Education Quality, PP. 13-29
Lather, P. (1991). Getting smart: feminist research and pedagogy with/in the postmodern. Journal of Leisure Research, 24(4): 394. https://dx.doi.org/10.22054/qric.2015.1847
Malaguzzi, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. Young children, 49(1): 9-12.
Malaguzzi, L. (1998). History, Ideas, and Basic Philosophy: An Interview with Lella Gandini. In: Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G (eds) (1998). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. pp.49–97. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation,
Mehromhammadi, M. (2012). The concept of integration in curriculum planning. Iranian encyclopedia of curriculum. (in persian)
Ministry of Education. (2012). National curriculum document of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Educational Research and Planning Organization. (in persian)
Moss, P. (2002). Time to say farewell to early childhood? Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 3(3): 435-438. https://doi.org/10.2304%2Fciec.2002.3.3.9
Murphy, R.; Ridgway, A.; Cunneen, M.; Horgan, M. (2015). Reggio Emilia. in The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophies and Theories of Early Childhood Education and Care, (pp. 306-315). Routledge.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2020). Gloossary. From: https://www.naeyc.org/resources/position-statements/dap/glossary#:~:text=early%20childhood%E 2%80%94The%20first%20period,from%20birth%20through%20age%208.
Osgood, J. (2015). Postmodernist Theorizing in ECEC: Making the familiar strange in pursuit of social justice. in The Routledge international handbook of philosophies and theories of early childhood education and care (pp. 157-164). Routledge.
Pacini-Ketchabaw, V.; Pence, A. (2005). Contextualizing the reconceptualist movement in Canadian early childhood education. in V. Pacini-Ketchabaw & A. Pence (Eds.), Canadian early childhood education: Broadening and deeping discussions of guality (pp. 5-20). Ottawa, ON: Canadian Child Care Federation. http://dx.doi.org/10.18357/jcs.v38i1.15441
Rinaldi, C. (1998). Projected curriculum constructed through documentation progettazione: An interview with Lella Gandini. in: Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G (eds) The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. pp.113–126. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Rinaldi, C. (2021). In dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, researching and learning. Routledge.
Rinaldi, K. (1998). Proiected curriculum and documentation. in: Edwards, C, Gandini, L, Forman, G (eds). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach Advanced Reflections. New York: Ablex Publishing Corporation, pp.113–125.
Smith, C. (1998). Children with “special rights” in the preprimary schools and infant-toddler centers of Reggio Emilia. The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach-advanced reflections, 2:199-214. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022022107610
Smyth, W. (2001). Critical Politics of Teacher's Work: An Australian Perspective.
Soto, L. D.; Swadener, B. B. (2002). Toward liberatory early childhood theory, research and praxis: Decolonizing a field. Contemporary issues in early childhood, 3(1): 38-66. https://doi.org/10.2304%2Fciec.2002.3.1.8
Soto, L. D. (2000). An early childhood dreamspace of social justice and equity, in L. D. Soto (ed.) The Politics of Early Childhood Education (pp. 197–208). New York: Peter Lang.
Spiteri, J. (2020). Early Childhood Education for Sustainability. in: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A., Brandli, L., Özuyar, P., Wall, T. (eds) Quality Education. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. pp. 1-12. Springer, Cham.
Sumsion, J. (2005). Putting postmodern theories into practice in early childhood teacher education. in Practical transformations and transformational practices: Globalization, postmodernism, and early childhood education. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
Usher, R.; Edwards, R. (1994). Postmodernism and Education. London: Routledge.
Vecchi, V. (2010). Art and creativity in Reggio Emilia: Exploring the role and potential of ateliers in early childhood education. Routledge.
Yelland, N. (2005). Critical issues in early childhood education. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Yelland, N.; Kilderry, A. (2005 a). Against the tide: new ways in early childhood education. in N. Yelland (ed.) Critical issues in early childhood education. (pp. 1–13). McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Yelland, N.; Kilderry, A. (2005 b). Postmodernism, passion and potential for future childhoods. in N. Yelland (ed.) Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education. (pp. 243–248). McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
Yelland, N.; Kilderry, A. (2005). Postmodernism, passion and potential for future childhoods. in: Critical Issues in Early Childhood. pp. 243-248. Yelland, Nicola, ed. Open University Press, Maidenhead, Berks., UK.
Yousefi, N. (2016). Educational Approaches in Working with Young Children. Tehran: Children's Workshop. (in persian)
)
Send comment about this article