We are Proud to Announce that our Early Learning Centre has recently been awarded with a certificate in Reggio 'inspired' pedagogy. The Reggio Emilia approach, which is student-centered, constructivist and utilises self-directed, experiential learning in a relationship-driven environment, is a research-based approach well-recognised around the world and by the International Baccalaureate as exemplary. We are the first school in Vienna and the only international school in Austria to receive this award. We are looking forward to sharing our continuing developments with the whole VIS community, due to the initiative of the Karin Ifeagwu and Lotta Salmi, teachers at VIS Early Learning Centre.
The Reggio Emilia Approach is an educational philosophy based on the image of the child, and of human beings, as possessing strong potentials for development and as a subject of rights who learns and grows in the relationships with others.
This global educational project, which is carried forth in the Municipal Infant-toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and has inspired other schools all over the world, is based on a number of distinctive characteristics: the participation of families, the collegial work of all the personnel, the importance of the educational environment, the presence of the atelier and the figure of the atelierista, the in-school kitchen, and the pedagogical coordinating team.
Focusing on the centrality of the hundred languages belonging to every human being, in the atelier spaces young children are offered daily opportunities to encounter many types of materials, many expressive languages, many points of view, working actively with hands, minds, and emotions, in a context that values the expressiveness and creativity of each child in the group.
For further information on the Istituzione Municipal Infant-toddler Centers and Preschools of Reggio Emilia, visit the website www.scuolenidi.re.it