The continuity of education for young children from 3 months to 6 years•A pedagogical-coordination-support team of pedagogisti andpsychologists•Participation by parents to infant/toddler centers and preschools forchildren with special needs•An atelier and an atelierista in each preschool and each infant/toddlercenter•Two teachers per classroom as co-teachers•Permanent collegial work and professional development in eachpreschool or infant toddler center for all teachers, atelieristi, cooks, andauxiliary personnel•Recognition of the value of the indoor and outdoor environments asspaces for learning, including kitchens, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces(Regulations for the Municipal Preschool, 1972, translation of p. 119)

An atelierista from Anna Frank School wrote that with Malaguzzi, the teacher brought paper and painting materials into the center of the city and set up them up under the colonnade of the theater. The children set to painting out in the public for all to see, and people crowded around, expressed surprise, and asked many questions

Therefore, schools have a new task: rather than child-minding they have to open up to observation, research and experimentation by teachers who, together with children, participate in constructing a new culture of education

We must be able to be amazed and to enjoy, like the children often do.

Their goal is not so much to “facilitate” learning in the sense of “making smooth or easy” but rather to “stimulate” it by making problems more complex, involving, and arous-ing. They ask the children what they need to conduct experiments—even when they realize that a particular approach or hypothesis is not “correct.” They serve as the children’s partners, sustaining the children and offering assistance, resources, and strategies to get “relaunched” when they are stuck.

r adults to understand the languages that children may prefer, such as creative expression and play. Adults may have neglected and forgotten these languages in the course of growin

If children do indeed speak using 100 languages, then in order to understand what children are saying, adults must lis-ten with all of their creativity. Rinaldi (2001) proposed "listening not just with our ears but with all our senses (sight, touch, smell, taste, orientation). Listening to the hundred, the thousand languages

The teacher must have the capacity for many differ-ent roles. The teacher has to be the author of a play,someone who thinks ahead of time. Teachers alsoneed to be the main actors in the play, the protago-nists. The teacher must forget all the lines he knewbefore and invent the ones he doesn’t remember.Teachers also have to take the role of the prompter,the one who gives the cues to the actors. Teachersneed to be set designers who create the environmentin which activities take place. At the same time, theteacher needs to be the audience who applauds

The child wants to be observed, but she doesn’t wantto be judged.

Overactivity on the part of the adult is a risk factor.The adult does too much because he cares about thechild; but this creates a passive role for the child inher own learning

All of this changes the role of the teacher, a role thatbecomes much more difficult and complex. It alsomakes the world of the teacher more beautiful,something to become involved in

There’s a difference between the environmentthat you are able to build based on a preconceivedimage of the child and the environment that you canbuild that is based on the child you see in front of you— the relationship you build with the child, thegames you play.

A strong image of the child has tocorrespond to a strong image of the teacher

Parents are an essential component of the program; acompetent and active part of their children's learning experience. They are notconsidered consumers but co-responsible partners. Their right to participation isexpected and supported; it takes many forms, and can help ensure the welfare of allchildren in the program

Thirdly, the tradition of cooperative work is firmly rooted in the Emilia Romagnaregion and is based on a sense of community and of solidarity. Through a strongsense of solidarity, people there are accustomed to construct and maintain theconnections with the community.