Final Version May 5 07

120
to visit the programs appeared to be seen as badge of honour, a validation that is not
available to the front-line practitioner.
Without a doubt, adapting a Reggio-inspired curriculum in a meaningful way
cannot come without expense. Teacher training and parent education are essential to shift
perspectives from current images to the three subjects of education; children, parents and
teachers. If this fundamental shift does not occur, a misguided adoption of the philosophy
could be detrimental with teachers and parents confused and classroom practices
misunderstood. Finding staff with an articulated understanding of the approach is
difficult. This was a concern expressed by many during the study tour in which I
participated. When teachers are hired without a background in the approach and the inservice
training is not provided, it is unlikely that they will able to communicate
effectively to parents.
Parents may be concerned with the practice of documentation. According to
Johnson (1999) documentation runs the risk of being seen as extensive surveillance of
children. Wright (2000) in a response to the criticism expressed by Johnson (1999)
counters that “documentation only becomes surveillance within a paradigm that sees
children as objects that generate data” (p. 224). There is still much work to be done on
images so that there is a paradigm shift that sees the power of documentation as tool for
social construction. Outside of Italy this shift may not be possible. The resistance to
accepting a new perspective may be grounded in the lack of quantitative data that
measure the achievement of the children in Reggio programs.
The literature on Reggio is about the expression of 40 years of practices imbedded
with philosophical underpinnings. There is an undeniable lack of quantitative data that