This article situates Reggio Emilia's municipally funded early childhood program within the city's cultural traditions of resistance and collaboration and considers what it is about this highly localized program that is appealing and useful to contemporary school reform initiatives. Five features of Reggio Emilia's approach to early education are…

Examines the influences of the Reggio Emilia approach on a reconceptualization of quality and developmentally appropriate practices in early-childhood education. Concludes that the determination of quality approaches to children's care and education requires a functional system of relations in which all voices count. A commitment to quality…

Rebecca New describes a history of selective enthusiasm for Western European ideas about children, the period of childhood, and the potentials of early care and educational services. She further acknowledges the European origins of many features of contemporary early childhood education, including the prevalence of educational toys, the principles…

Much has been learned about the possibilities of early childhood education from nations that have long invested in high-quality early care and educational programs. These new understandings are now being used by U.S. early childhood advocates to help parents, policy makers, and others better understand children's vast learning potentials, to…

International perspectives on the care and education of preschool children that seem to be of greatest interest in the United States are those directly linked to prevailing concerns in American early childhood education. In this context, many early childhood specialists have explored the implications of Reggio Emilia's work for the theory,…

International perspectives on the care and education of preschool children that seem to be of greatest interest in the United States are those directly linked to prevailing concerns in American early childhood education. In this context, many early childhood specialists have explored the implications of Reggio Emilia's work for the theory,…

Examined home-school relations in five Italian cities, focusing on the continuity and sub-cultural variations associated with two national guidelines: participatory social management and the initial entry of young children into out-of-home care. Found diverse sociopolitical and theoretical interpretations of effective home-school relationships,…

Maintains that the Italian concept of "l'inserimento" suggests a different way of thinking about children's entry to out-of-home care and challenges American practitioners to rethink current interpretations of quality care, teachers' professional responsibilities, and the role of child-development theory. Concludes that cultural…

Usually considered a pedagogical plan, the term "curriculum" is linked with decisions regarding educational content and often with related instructional strategies. However, a curriculum for young children embodies more than the "what" and the "how" of children's learning experiences in early childhood settings. Based…