My Reggio Emilia Journey

By Nicole Mandeville

I graduated from UVM’s Early Childhood Education program in 2008, having spent four years in the Campus Children’s School through work-study, student-teaching, and as a summer employee. Throughout this time, I absorbed the values and principles of the Reggio Emilia approach: engaging in careful observation followed by planning as part of the cycle of inquiry, perfecting my documentation panels to display children’s learning processes within the classroom and the hallways of the school, and taking children on outings (my favorite was the woods) to engage with the community beyond the school, amongst many other important practices.

In many childcare programs, including those I taught at after graduating, teachers are not given planning time, don’t have time to meet with colleagues, and curriculum is expected to be a pre-planned “theme” for each week, rather than an inspired and creative endeavor. Taking the time to create aesthetically-pleasing displays of any kind or make time for reflection was frivolous. I partially accepted the attitude of those surrounding me that my philosophy and approach simply weren’t practical, while maintaining the use of a constructivist, emergent curriculum to the best of my ability.

In 2014, I was starting my own preschool (Burlington Forest Preschool) and carrying out the roles of both teaching and small business ownership. Though the Reggio values were still at the center of my own practice, in this fledgling program I didn’t have much time or financial resources to devote to supporting other staff in implementing the approach as a school, and creating of documentation for the walls unfortunately wasn’t happening.

In 2023, I gave birth to my son and left many of the daily operations to my first ever assistant director, in a great act of letting go! Upon returning full time, I had time that I had never had before for expanding my role; and there was even more time available for teachers to get out of the classroom for planning, meetings, reflection, and documentation.

However, I felt that there was still something (or many things) missing in our approach. What systems are holding it all together and inspiring teachers to continue learning about and utilizing the Reggio lens? With this broad question in mind, I set off for the NAREA (North America Reggio Emilia Alliance) conference titled “Deepening Research with the One Hundred Languages” in Reggio Emilia in May, 2025 as part of a

delegation of Early Educators from Vermont.

Before I could solve any mysteries, though, I had to make a few other stops to see the sights and sip the limoncello. An old friend of mine from UVM, who would also be attending the conference, accompanied me on a short pre-conference vacation. We had four days to spend in the area around Bologna, Florence, and Cinque Terre! We went hard in every realm: the art, hiking, eating, terraced vineyards, and sightseeing! We didn’t seem to sleep much, but had such a fun and fulfilling time.

From there, we hopped on the train to Reggio and met up with our group with whom we would spend the week. We attended a combination of profound presentations in the Loris Malaguzzi conference center, small group workshops, and visits to the preschools and infant-toddler centers. During the workshops, we were able to spend time engaging with materials that we often offer to children. We considered the concept of children’s “hundred languages” and the other concepts that are at play when children work with these materials, along with the impact of how the materials themselves are presented. In between all of these events, we had a chance to explore both the documentation and the various “atelier” (studios) set up throughout the conference center building.

Each evening, we met at the so-called (by us) “Aperol kiosk” in the park to have a drink and share our thoughts about our days, often then venturing out to explore more and find gelato. We came upon many sites that we recognized from the Reggio Emilia literature and documentation we had read over the years!

We also visited the municipal recycling center, which I’ve since referred to as “Resource on steroids.” Each school has a membership here, and teachers frequently visit to obtain any type of open-ended material imaginable from its thoughtfully organized and curated shelves.

An understanding of the underpinnings and inner workings of this school system began to emerge as the week went on. My takeaways are vast, and many of them are still without words to define them – I am very much still in the state of processing it all!

The first thing I was struck by upon returning was the contrast between our efforts to maintain the organization and presentation of materials that are offered to children, versus the spaces that are set up for teachers. I wondered how my role in sharing materials with the teachers might mirror the ways we offer and present materials to children. Every material is a language. If teachers or children aren’t using that material, do they need to be given more of an opportunity to learn that language?

How are our materials presented and organized to share with the teachers? If our materials storage area is a wreck and the kitchen workspace is full of clutter, how can we as adults approach our own work and offerings to the children in a thoughtful and inspired way?

I immediately set to work on the massive undertaking of reorganizing all of the shared spaces in our school, and am still not finished! I also began the practice of displaying the work that we do in group professional development sessions in the kitchen, where we can all remember and reflect on this work.

Though things have vastly improved, I am still waiting on new wall-mount shelves in order to create a school recycling center for reusing materials, which will be located in our main hallway. There is certainly overlap between this practice in Reggio and our mission to be more sustainable in our school.

One thing I was not looking for in Reggio, but received, was confirmation that the time to meet and work as colleagues outside of the classroom is just as important as the time we spend working with children. In the Reggio schools, teachers have opportunities to meet with teachers from other classrooms each week; pedagogistas (similar to a school director) meet with pedagogistas from the other schools each week.

So, I tackled our school teacher schedule next, adding time every week for each teacher to meet with a teacher from the other classroom, along with mentor meeting time for newer teachers to meet with a more seasoned teacher and discuss their practice, on top of other meeting times we already had in place. I am hoping that these opportunities are supportive for our teachers and offer them the opportunity through dialogue and shared reflection to deepen their practice.

The overarching sense expressed repeatedly throughout our time in Reggio is that we are doing something important in this work, for individual children and for society simultaneously. Every teacher, presenter, and piece of literature we encountered conveyed this shared sentiment in one way or another. Our work with children and the provocations we offer extend beyond the school day, and children’s experiences and learning processes are taken seriously and approached with great respect and curiosity. Curricular projects are an exciting opportunity for teachers to continue their own research and learning, rather than experiences just for children. It is isn’t one teacher, one classroom team, or even one school working independently, it’s a network of support and shared belief. For now, my hope is that our school can continue on a trajectory towards this cohesion, and similarly, that the Vermont delegation group who attended the conference can find ways to continue in our learning together!