‘TRACES is the name we gave to our interpretation and translation of the Reggio Emilia approach into the Dutch context of the Reggio Emilia approach.’

From the moment of its birth, every child is competent, forceful and intelligent and has within its grasp a hundred different languages to communicate with its surroundings. Children grow up in a community of people and from the very first moment they are oriented towards interacting and communicating with the people around them. They are curious and keen to learn. All their senses and faculties are brought to bear in their approach to their world. They think and imagine, they develop ideas and fantasies. They make connections between their ideas, they form theories and make plans. Young children are explorers and makers: they shape their own development. Of course young children are also dependant for this on the care and attention of the adults around them, for however great their capacities and however significant their ideas and plans, they need adults who will immerse themselves in the world of young children, who will look and listen, professionals who will connect with the children’s research by providing them with the space, materials and situations they need.

These ideas are at the heart of the educational work in Reggio Emilia and the inspiration for TRACES, a Reggio-inspired pedagogical approach to the education of young children developed in the Netherlands by the Stichting Pedagogiekontwikkeling 0-7 (the Foundation for the development of pedagogy and education for young children 0 to 7). Ten years ago Pedagogiek 0-7 introduced the Reggio Emilia approach into the Netherlands with the exhibition and conference ‘The Children of Reggio’, held in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. Subsequently Stichting Pedagogiek 0-7 worked within research projects to translate the ideas of Reggio Emilia into a form suitable to introduce into Dutch day care centres, infant playgroups and primary schools. This book introduces the reflections, experiments and developments of the TRACES pedagogical approach. It is a book packed with histories, thoughts, ideas and theories– a collection of images and stories of the children and adults who for ten years have been working together on the development of TRACES.
Prijs: € 34.90