Kindergarten Environments in Reggio Emilia, Bologna, Modena, and Parma, Italy. In Search of Quality

Globally, early childhood educators have been influenced by the municipally operated Reggio Emilia preschools of northern Italy. There are, however, three types of preschool settings in Italy—state, municipal, and private. The last year of the preschool experience is equivalent to the kindergarten year in the United States, and the preschool programs are also referred to as kindergartens. Italy is a progressive country that has embraced quality early childhood programs beginning with the post-World War II era. Italy offers government-supported preschool education with over 94% attendance; the program is full-day, five days a week and operates from early September through the end of June. The authors of this chapter conducted a pilot study of the ACEI Global Guidelines Assessment instrument in the northern Emilia Romagna region of Italy, including teachers from all three types of kindergarten classrooms. In this chapter the authors discuss kindergarten environments for young children 3 to 6 years of age. In addition, the results of a study of classroom environments using the global guidelines in these three kindergarten types are presented. Kindergarten classrooms in the northern sector of Italy—Bologna,Modena, Reggio Emilia, and Parma—are described in this chapter.