Pedagogical Approaches

Reggio Emilia Approach

REH-joh eh-MEEL-yah

Also Known As Reggio Approach

Citation Formats

General Reference

Education Atlas. "Reggio Emilia Approach." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://education.interactiveatlas.org/approaches/reggio-emilia-approach.

APA Style

Education Atlas. (n.d.). Reggio Emilia Approach. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://education.interactiveatlas.org/approaches/reggio-emilia-approach

BibTeX

@misc{educationatlas-reggio-emilia-approach,
  author = {Education Atlas},
  title = {Reggio Emilia Approach},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://education.interactiveatlas.org/approaches/reggio-emilia-approach},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Reggio Emilia approach is a student-centered, constructivist philosophy of early childhood education developed by Loris Malaguzzi together with parents in villages around Reggio Emilia, Italy, in the years following the Second World War. It holds that children possess a hundred languages, many equally valid ways of expressing understanding beyond words, and that they should have real control over the direction of their own learning through long-term, open-ended projects built from their own interests. Teachers act as co-learners and careful observers rather than instructors delivering a fixed curriculum, documenting children's work in detail, and the physical environment itself is treated as a third teacher. The approach gained international recognition after the 1981 traveling exhibition The Hundred Languages of Children opened in Stockholm.

Facts

Central Question

If young children are given real control over long-term, self-directed projects and many expressive languages besides words, does their learning and creative development improve? 1

Most Effective For

Preschool and early primary education, particularly where strong parental and community involvement and a flexible, project-based curriculum are feasible. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections