Early Childhood Center To Host Reggio Emilia Conference

The will be hosting its third Reggio Emilia-focused conference March 4-5.

This year’s conference is titled “Education Research Shared Between Adults and Children: Reggio-Inspired Learning In An Urban Public School-Preschool Through First Grade.”

Amelia Gambetti will be the featured speaker. She served as an educator in the Reggio Emilia Municipal Preschools for 25 years and has been an educational consultant and frequent lecturer on the Reggio Emilia educational theory.

“To have her here is pretty exciting,” said Jennifer Strange, pedagogical coordinator at the center.

A welcome reception and keynote address by Gambetti will happen from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. March 4 at Webster University. From 8:30 a.m. until noon March 5, there will be presentations and a dialogue session at the center with its educators, and a concluding presentation by Gambetti. Breakfast is included.

Strange, who helped coordinate the event, said the conference will promote one of the fundamentals of the Reggio Emilia approach: making learning visible.

“We want to share with the world what we’re doing,” she said, adding that it’s a great chance for interested educators to network.

said that so far, the Reggio Emilia theory has been embraced by only a small number of schools in St. Louis, many of them private institutions. She is hopeful the conference will provide an opportunity to share the district’s experiences with the Reggio Emilia concept with representatives from other area public schools. 

Although the conference is geared toward educators, parents with children currently enrolled at the center are encouraged to attend.

For more information on the conference and registration details, contact the center at 314-644-4405 or online.