Reggio Emilia is more than a town in Italy.

It's also a way of teaching pre-school children creativity, social skills and responsibility through art and music.The Reggio Emilia Approach is being integrated into elementary and early childhood education classes at Utah Valley State College under the direction of Paul Roberson, elementary and early childhood education chairman. But adjusting to this Italian teaching approach may pose some problems for American classrooms.

Reggio Emilia class sizes are smaller those in the United States and have two teachers per room - a political hot potato for many school districts and politicians in this country.

The society in that Italian city of 130,000 is much more stable, which is essential in teaching young minds. "There is very little divorce," Roberson said. "That would be hard to match in the United States these days."

Preschoolers in the Italian town attend one of 25 schools. "They do things teachers in the United States only talk about," said Robison. "They make it work."

Roberson and two other teachers from UVSC spent part of last summer in Reggio Emilia learning how the teaching approach works. There, they studied the philosophy and observed community schools. Two other teachers attended a workshop on the approach in St. Louis.

Parental involvement is a key element of Reggio Emilia.

"They do lots of things with art and music," said Roberson. "Reading and writing comes later."

The result is youngsters with advanced art and music skills. "We believe it's the kind of thing parents here value," he said.

The underlying concept is in the image teachers have for their young charges. The image of the child is that he or she is powerful, capable and resourceful. With teacher and parental support, children can learn to do much more than they traditionally accomplish. Teachers act as facilitators - together they discover the world through creativity, imagination and discovery.

"We're teaching future teachers to appreciate the capabilities of young children," Roberson said. Teachers are learning to be better observers and documenters of children's activities.

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"There's a high interest in the United States for this," Roberson added.

Reggio Emilia is part of the four-year elementary education program just approved for UVSC. "It's not a visible part, but an emphasis," said Roberson. The campus children's center, which provides care for students' children, provides a local demonstration of the Reggio Emilia phil-os-ophy.

UVSC recently hosted the first Intermountain Reggio Emelia conference to spread the word about the new approach. Another conference on the teaching philosophy is planned for next year on campus that may feature at least two Reggio Emilia teachers from Italy.

The Reggio Emilia approach started a half century ago when Louis Malaguzzi founded it during the rebuilding of the education system in the city ravaged by World War II. Rebuilding the system was a parental project, and parents remain a key element in their children's education under the teaching approach.

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