The 7th NAREA Summer Conference

The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance Board would like to welcome you to Dialogues for Quality in Education – Valuing Early Childhood: An Invitation for Community Dialogue in connection with The Wonder of Learning – The Hundred Languages of Children exhibit in Pacific Grove, California.

As the 7^th offering in our current series, “Dialogues for Quality in Education,” we hope this conference offers a rich and meaningful contribution to your ongoing professional development. Please do not hesitate to let us know how we can make your experience during this conference more comfortable and engaging.

It is with special gratitude that we welcome our colleagues from Reggio Emilia, Italy, Elena Giacopini and Anna Orlandini. Their availability and enthusiasm in representing experiences and perspectives of the world-renowned municipal system of infant-toddler centers and preschools of Reggio Emilia is deeply appreciated. Likewise, we thank our North American colleagues who will be facilitating small group discussions and materials workshops during the conference. We would also like to express our appreciation to First 5 Monterey County and other community partners for hosting the exhibit and to First 5 Monterey County and Central Coast Association for the Education for hosting this conference.

We wish to highlight our belief in and commitment to the value of 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 stay a course that includes permanent study, research, collaboration, innovation, transparency, and exchange. Through our multi-year professional development project attached to the presence of this exhibit in North America, we will 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 right 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. Together, we will continually build more quality and excellence.

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