The Role of the Pedagogista in Reggio Emilia Voices and Ideas for a Dialectic Educational Experience

1. Reciprocal Formazione and Collective Care  2. Reciprocal Formazione in Reggio Emilia  3. The Value of Relationality and an Ethic of Dialectics  4. Dialectical Encounters in Reggio Emilia  5. The Value of Artfulness and an Ethic of Making  6. Pensiero Progettuale and Educational Research in Everyday Contexts in the Nidi and Scuole Dell’infanzia of Reggio Emilia  7. The Value of Culture and an Ethic of Research  8. Education Commons: History, Choices, and Tools for Rendering A Utopia Concrete  9. The Value of The Commons and An Ethic of Alliances  Epilogue

Biography

Stefania Giamminuti, Senior Lecturer in Early Childhood Education at Curtin University, Australia, cultivates an enduring research collaboration with Reggio Emilia.

Paola Cagliari, Pedagogista, formerly Director of the Preschools and Infant-toddler Centres – Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, collaborates with Reggio Children on research projects and formazione.

Claudia Giudici, Psychologist, formerly President of Reggio Children, where she is currently responsible for the Research Area, is Professor in Psychopedagogy at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Paola Strozzi, Pedagogista, former member of the Pedagogical Coordination of the Preschools and Infant-toddler Centres – Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, collaborates with Reggio Children on formazione.

"This book is very important for the whole field of education. It is essential reading for anyone wanting deeper understanding of the extraordinary education project of Reggio Emilia, delving into its underpinning pedagogy, politics, ethics, culture and philosophy as well as the ‘competent system’ that enables it. It contests the impoverished education of the neoliberal hegemony, with its standardised criteria and predetermined outcomes. It leaves the reader with hope that another world is possible as that hegemony passes."

Peter Moss, Emeritus Professor, UCL Institute of Education

"A city that cares and collective research – these enchanting concepts are the opening words and ethos of this book that describes the role of the pedagogistas in Reggio Emilia. However, the book does not only describe the role of the pedagogistas, it also demonstrates how this role is constantly put into play, into the not-yet – ‘mettersi in gioco’ – through the pedagogistas’ lived experiences together with the children, the teachers, the parents, and engaged others. In tune with Reggio Emilia’s tradition of systemic and pragmatic thinking, the role of the pedagogista is placed in an ecology of practices, which opens up towards speculative pragmatic thinking; towards events, affect and minor gestures, and towards life in its widest sense. The book also sends a message of hope and a call for an education commons, which is so important when education systems internationally are experiencing the dissolution of collective action."

Gunilla Dahlberg, Emeritus Professor, Stockholm University

Ultimately, this is not a book of answers or prescriptions; it is a book of questions, provocations and possibilities. It challenges us to reimagine leadership in early childhood education not as management but as a cultural and relational ethical act. As Massumi writes: ‘there is no such thing as starting from scratch. Everything re-begins’. This book offers exactly that: a re-beginning or an invitation to rethink education as a collective act for the common good.

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 2025