Reggio Emilia and Pen Green

Tonight I attended Encounters with Reggio Emilia (Italy) & Pen Green (UK) presented by Chrissy Lepper.

The first part of her talk was about Reggio Emilia which is a place in the North of Italy.  Reggio Emilia is founded on the rights of the child. There are 3 key thrusts of this.
These are:

1. Participation -equal voice, equal status -sharing power
2. Democracy - with responsibility
3. Citizenship - the child is viewed as a citizen with rights from an early age.

The second, and smaller part of the talk, was about Pen Green Centre which is a centre for children and their families. This is a community approach where teachers and families have equal status.  Parents ideas are included in an authentic way not just in a token way.  Parents are also trained in this approach. This fits in with Ministry's current thinking of agency and self- efficacy.