Final Version May 5 07

31
I was beginning to understand constructivism; however, it is not the Piagetian
theories that would come to define my work. The theoretical compass for my practice
could be found in the writings of Lev Vygotsky. Rather than a Piagetian image of teacher
as facilitator, Vygotskian constructivism situates the learner within a social context and
the teacher as collaborator or co-constructor of knowledge. The Russian psychologist is
the principal theorist for emergent curriculum.
Driven by this solidified view of curriculum, I looked for applications of
Vygotsky’s theories and found inspiration in the work of Katz and Chard (2000) that
developed a structure for emergent curriculum called The Project Approach and by the
educators from the Reggio Emilia district in northern Italy whose transformational
system of early childhood education supported my emerging pedagogical orientation.
The theoretical underpinnings for the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood
education are the work of John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky. Loris Malaguzzi,
the founder of the approach, in conjunction with parents and other educators, developed a
system of education for young children that is transformational for both the teacher and
the learner. He is quoted as saying, “creativity seems to emerge from multiple
experiences, coupled with a well-supported development of personal resources, including
a sense of freedom to venture beyond the known” (Malaguzzi, 1998, p. 76).
For Malaguzzi, the central notion for the philosophy of Reggio Emilia resides in
the concept of images. The image of the child is one where children are seen as strong,
competent, intellectual builders of theories. Stremmel (2002a) suggests that this image
counters current perspectives of children as powerless, passive receptacles into which
knowledge or skills are poured and suggests the Reggio image as an alternative. “Instead