This free online pedagogy course covers the basics of the student-centred Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education.

This teacher training course provides a brief overview of the Reggio Emilia approach to preschool education. We discuss the factors that have a positive effect on young children's development and explain how early childhood education contributes to their success. We then examine the key factors that define this teaching model in detail. The course explains the characteristics of the contemporary educational doctrine known as ‘constructivism’, which argues that children play an active role in their own education instead of passively absorbing it.

The course then explains how to understand the facial language of children, which can convey several different and profound meanings. We examine the role of the preschool environment and discuss how to integrate it into the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy. We then define ‘pedagogical documentation’ and outline why keeping comprehensive records of classroom interactions is important. This includes its role in cultivating reflective thinking in children.

The Reggio Emilia approach emphasises the critical notion of creativity and its role in preschool education. We discuss how creativity develops in early childhood and examine its defining characteristics before comparing the Montessori, Waldorf and Reggio Emilia teaching models and weighing their respective advantages and disadvantages. This course is ideal for parents, preschool teachers or child psychologists who want to develop their knowledge about this innovative approach to preschool education. The Reggio Emilia model has only been around since World War Two but it has already changed the way we understand childhood development and the role of preschool in guiding it.