The 11th NAREA Summer Conference

The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance Board would like to welcome you to the Eleventh NAREA Summer Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bridging Partnerships on the Path of Learning, Embracing History, Identity, and Culture in our Settings.

This year, we organized our largest winter conference in New York City and last year, we had the privilege of developing our tenth summer conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We are excited to continue to bring together educators with the aim of supporting and strengthening all those interested in the experiences and ongoing research of Reggio Emilia, Italy. We hope this initiative offers a rich and meaningful contribution to your ongoing professional development.

It is with special gratitude that we welcome our colleagues Deanna Margini and Filippo Chieli from Reggio Emilia, Italy. We wish to extend our appreciation to the Reggio Pittsburgh Initiative and the educators from the Cyert Center for Early Education and the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh Early Childhood Development Center for hosting this initiative and supporting the planning connected to it.

We wish to highlight our belief in and commitment to the value of embracing history, identity, and cultural diversity and differences as essential aspects of personal and professional development. Recognizing the ever-increasing number of programs for young children inspired by Reggio’s approach to life and education, we honor and encourage each program and every group of colleagues to invest in an ongoing approach that includes permanent study, research, collaboration, innovation, transparency, and exchange. Through our professional development projects, we encounter a host of schools at varying points of their own journey, willing to open their doors, expose their work, and welcome the participation of visitors. This style of development has been introduced to all of us by the only “Reggio schools” of Reggio Emilia, Italy. To be continually encouraged to find our own unique identities as schools in different communities worthy in our own identity is to see how much the message of Reggio Emilia is based on attitudes of research and innovation, rather than prescriptive dogma. For this, we are also grateful.

Please enjoy the pleasure of thinking and wondering as we work together to construct a better future for our children, our communities, and ourselves.

June 18–20, 2015 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania