image of the child

Children are viewed as competent, curious and natural researchers who are full of knowledge, potential and interested in connecting to the world around them.

inquiry and collaboration

Ideas are discussed, investigations are shared, and opportunities are created to extend and build upon theories.  We encourage and support the children to work together during play and inquiry and entrust the children to solve problems. A collaborative approach develops respect for many points of view, ideas, theories and suggestions of individual children as well as the group.

relationships

We focus on creating relationships, making connections and establishing dialogue between educators, families and children. We believe that children are deeply connected to family and community and we invite families to take an active role in contributing to the process of discovery and learning.

the hundred languages

Children express their ideas, theories, feelings and creativity through many languages. We create time and space for the children to experiment with open-ended, creative, flexible materials and promote artistic opportunities to enhance children’s learning.

teachers as co-researchers

Teachers co-research alongside the children.  They make visible the children’s voices through listening, questioning, reciprocal dialogue and documentation. We aim to focus on the learning rather than the teaching, to better understand the process rather than the product.

environment and spaces

Through carefully designed use of space, with emphasis on the exploration of colour, light, technologies, loose parts, open-ended materials, the environment plays a crucial role and supports interaction and engagement. Space is designed to encourage encounters, wonder, investigation, exploration and discovery.

documentation

The learning processes are documented in a variety of ways to make learning visible to the educators, children and families.  Documentation allows children and educators to re-visit their experiences, reflect upon them and extend on their learning.

Niente senza gioia – ‘Nothing without Joy’.

Loris Malaguzzi

If you think of learning as a series of activities you are fragmenting the learning process.

There is great distance between learning as an ‘experience of performance’ and learning as a ‘process of understanding’.

Tiziana Filippini, Hobart 2016

Our image of the child is rich in potential, strong, powerful, competent and, most of all, connected to adults and other children.

Loris Malaguzzi

…a simple , liberating thought came to our aid, namely that things about and for children are only learned from children.

Loris Malaguzzi, 1988, p. 51

If a child can’t learn the way we teach, then maybe we should teach the way they learn.

Ignatio Estrada

Stand aside for a while and leave room for learning, observe carefully what children do, and then, if you have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different from before.

Loris Malaguzzi

Children can challenge and extend their on thinking and that of others, and create new knowledge in collaborative interactions and negotiations.

The Australian Early Years Learning Framework: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2009, p 33