learning

I find great benefit in considering pedagogy in a social constructivist way, as inspired for me and so many others in early learning by the preschools and infant toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, Italy and increasingly, as translated and transformed into progressive early learning environments (including child care) throughout the world.

To me, this thinking goes to the very heart of how we envision childcare and what image we have of the child. In particular, the child constructing meaning or “learning” in relation to others.

The Reggio experiences have profound implications for thinking, wisdom, knowledge and, indeed, the evolution of human consciousness.

It really is no wonder, then, that when asked to host the 12th International Conference on Thinking, Australia invited Reggio pedagogista Carlina Rinadi to present alongside futurists, philosophers and educators like Peter Senge, David Perkins, Richard Slaughter, Edward de Bono, Art Costa, Guy Claxton, Susan Greenfield and others.

The conference is seen to break through the normal academic barriers to thought.

Melbourne in July anyone?

There is also a smaller 2-day event being co-ordinated by the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange with Carlina and Eujlalia Bosch, among others. Both their biogs are on the conference website.

Conference convenors Karin Morrison and Jane Stewart both come from senior roles in education, so that will be a key theme/sector.

9th and 10th July
Hilton on the Park, Melbourne
Carlina Rinaldi and Eujlalia Bosch will speak on both days.

We also have three other confirmed speakers

1. A Doctor of Chinese medicine who will speak about
“Listening to Ourselves: mind and body
2. Boori Pryor an Aboriginal performer and speaker - Listening to the Past and the future can we hear peace.
3. The impact of listening to stories in understanding ourselves and others.

These titles are only the gist and still to be worked out.

We have also invited Li Cunxin (Mao’s Last Dancer” Listening to the movementt of the body. this has still not been confirmed.

$440.00 including GST

These are both unique and powerful opportunities.

It would be great to see debate about the advancement of these notions in a childcare context as Dr Pat Patrie did at the National Child Care conference held in Perth earlier this year.

We need to start removing the artificial barriers between care and education.

As far as ongoing WA opportunities go, the conversations being facilitated by Anna Alderson and Marie Martin are open to all.

Jan Phillips (ex-Penrhos ELC) is the WA convener for the Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange and has been generous enough to share her thoughts and resources over the last couple of years. She is now working fulltime on her PhD in Early Learning (with a Reggio emphasis). Really quite an amazing woman.

My undergraduate studies were in communications and cultural theory, looking at Berger, Sartre, Barthe, de Bouviour, Said etc and whilst I do find much of this material dense, I choose to have an image of child care teachers/workers/educators as capable of engaging with the heart of these ideas if presented in the right way.

I can imagine an enrichment programme (including study scholarships for conferences, study tours etc) to be a very achievable outcome.

I can imagine a vision of childcare that embraces the idea of children learning in relationship with each other, with their parents, with their teachers, with their environment, with their local community.

It’s about the journey.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 31st, 2005 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Early Learning, Education, Reggio. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.