The focus of this seminar is on re-imagining contexts and values in early childhood settings, through the lens of the possibilities offered by the educational project of Reggio Emilia (Italy). 

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Beginning with an overview of key pedagogical principles, Dr Stefania Giamminuti will share stories from daily life in the municipal infant-toddler centres and schools.

Stefania will show how schools and communities can be empathetic environments, welcoming to children, educators, and families, places that ‘belong’ to children and speak of them. The seminar will inspire participants to imagine and create beautiful environments for children and with children and to consider aesthetics as a value. 

Through the story of her own encounters with the learning communities of Arcobaleno infant-toddler centre and Neruda preschool in Reggio Emilia, and Lance Holt School in Fremantle (Western Australia), Stefania will further explore the image of early childhood settings as places of research, where children and adults are welcomed and valued as researchers in daily life. 

An invitation will be extended to teachers to see themselves as researchers in their everyday encounters with children, and to re-imagine their approaches to assessment, planning, and developing learning experiences with children.

• The educational project of Reggio Emilia (Italy) as theorised in Dr Stefania Giamminuti's PhD and publications.

• International literature on the educational project of Reggio Emilia.

• International literature on professionalism of early childhood teachers, and the image of teachers as researchers.

• International literature on pedagogical documentation, assessment, and quality in early childhood settings.

• International literature on beauty and aesthetics applied to school environments.

• Participants will gain in-depth understanding of the educational project of Reggio Emilia (Italy), its history and its present context.

• Participants will gain an understanding of the practical and ethical considerations inherent in interpreting the educational project of Reggio in diverse cultural contexts and school settings.

• The seminar will inspire participants to imagine and create beautiful environments for children and with children and to consider aesthetics as a value. 

• Participants will develop skills and attitudes to see themselves as researchers in their everyday encounters with children.

• Participants will be invited to re-imagine their approaches to assessment, planning, and developing learning experiences with children.

The seminars will include presentations by Dr Stefania Giamminuti, based on her research in Reggio Emilia (Italy) and Australia, interspersed with invitations to group dialogue amongst seminar participants. Each invitation to dialogue will be guided by carefully designed questions, with the aim to contextualise the experience of the educational project of Reggio Emilia in each school’s particular cultural milieu.

Day 1
Session 1
Young Children’s Right to Beauty: Aesthetics and Pedagogical Documentation in Reggio Emilia
 

Session 2
Early Years Settings as Places of Research: Possibilities from Reggio Emilia part 1 (including time for discussion)
 

Session 3
Early Years Settings as Places of Research: Possibilities from Reggio Emilia part 2 (including time for discussion)
 

Session 4
Discussion, questions, and practical activities 

Day 2
Session 1 
The Nature Walks Research Project: Children’s Ecological Identities in an Urban Environment

Session 2
The Nature Walks Research Project: Teacher as Researcher
(with time for questions and discussion)

Session 3 
Dancing with Reggio Emilia: Metaphors for quality

Session 4
Discussion, questions, and practical activities

Dr Stefania Giamminuti’s engagement with the early childhood field internationally spans over 20 years. Previously an early childhood teacher in an International School in Rome (Italy), she is currently a Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, Curtin University (Perth, WA). Stefania was awarded her PhD with Distinction at The University of Western Australia in 2010, she is the recipient of the 2010 Early Career Award of the Western Australian Institute for Educational Research, and she is a recipient of the Early Childhood Australia Doctoral Thesis Award for 2010. 

As Creswick Foundation Fellow for 2006, Stefania spent six months engaging in PhD research in the world-renowned municipal infant-toddler centres and schools of the city of Reggio Emilia, Italy. She is the author of the eminently acclaimed book Dancing with Reggio Emilia: Metaphors for Quality, published in 2013 by Pademelon Press and recipient of the Curtin University Humanities Research Book of the Year Award 2014 (Early Career). She co-authored with Jan Millikan the book Documentation and the Early Years Learning Framework, and she has authored several book chapters and journal articles. Stefania is in high demand as a public speaker internationally.

Stefania’s research interests include: the inspirations of the Reggio Emilia educational project; quality in early childhood education and care; pedagogical documentation; and professionalism of early childhood educators. Her current major research project, in collaboration with Reggio Children, investigates the role of the pedagogista in the educational project of Reggio Emilia, Italy. Stefania is also a member of the Council for Childhood and the City, Scuola Pablo Neruda, Reggio Emilia (Italy).