Reggio Children International Network

The first meeting of the Reggio Children International Network was held in Reggio Emilia at the Loris Malaguzzi International Center on July 6-7, 2006. Representatives from 11 countries came together with the aim of sharing values of collaboration and dialogue with the experience of the infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia, and explore their meanings more deeply in relation to the identity of the International Center. The goals of this first International Network meeting were:

• to create a context for continuing dialogues and collaborations among the various networks and Reggio Children; 

• to collect ideas and proposals for future plans and possible directions for the development of the International Center and  its identity; and

• to create new strategies and opportunities to promote different kinds of initiatives and events that will support ongoing dialogues.

After the meeting, a declaration of intent was sent to the mayor and politicians on behalf of the entire group, which stated:

The representatives of the Network "Reggio Children in the world," gathered together during the Seminar "In dialogue," organized by Reggio Children, the Istituzione Scuole e Nidi d'Infanzia - Municipality of Reggio Emilia and the Association "Friends of Reggio Children," in order to present the cultural identity of the International Centre Loris Malaguzzi and define the quality of the activities and initiatives in an international perspective, at the end of the meeting, they:

intend

to propose to the attention of the administrators, politicians, teachers, parents and citizens the central role that the quality of the experience of the Reggio Emilia municipal infant-toddler centres and preschools has inside the international educational, cultural and political discussion;

give

great value and meaning to the realization of the International Centre Loris Malaguzzi and they confirm their availability to sustain its initiatives, in the planning and in the costs, acknowledging the place as an essential tool in order to support, develop and qualify the researches and the educational policies at world level. In particular, the Centre appears as an extraordinary opportunity offered not only to the town of Reggio Emilia, but also to many cities and nations of the world in order to maintain and develop an international dialogue around values that today, like yesterday, are common to the participants in the Network and to their organizations.

Subsequent meetings of the Reggio Children International Network were held in June 2007 in Stockholm, Sweden, and in June 2008 in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Two representatives of the North America Reggio Emilia Alliance, NAREA board members, Angela Ferrario and Beth MacDonald, have attended all three meetings. Angela offered her reflections on the first meeting in 2006 in the Fall 2006 NAREA Column in Innovations in Early Education: The International Reggio Exchange, volume 13, number 4. Beth MacDonald shared her thoughts about the International Network following the second meeting in 2007 in the Winter 2008 NAREA Column in Innovations, volume 15, number 1.

Download "International Network Meeting Report" by Angela Ferrario

Download "The Endless Possibilities of the Reggio Children International Network" by Beth MacDonald