Erasmus + Educational Visit

Italy

29 May - 4 June 2016

In the May half term teachers visited Palma and Reggio Emilia, the home of Montessori schooling,to look at Early Childhood Education in Italy.

The Educational Visit was funded by Erasmus +.Erasmus + supports the implementation of the European policy agenda for growth, jobs, equity and

social inclusion.Europe needs more cohesive and inclusive societies, which allow citizens to play an active role in

democratic life. Erasmus+ is an important instrument to promote the inclusion of people withdisadvantaged backgrounds.

Well-performing education and training systems help to tackle challenges by providing people withthe skills required by the labour market and the economy, while allowing them to play an active

role in society and achieve personal fulfilment. Reforms in education strengthen progress towardsthese goals, on the basis of a shared vision between policy makers and stakeholders, sound

Millie Barnett

Italy Educational Visit 29th May- 4th June 2016

What I wanted from the trip?

I wanted to see the different approaches schools use in regards to; behaviour, assessing

development and ways the settings were set out each day.

What I have learnt…

What I saw in many of the schools we visited is that the teachers believe children using their

imagination is just as important as learning to write. Children don’t have to start compulsory school

until the age of 6. I believe we as professionals in our school worry far too much about grading our

children rather than letting them learn and explore using their own devices. (The Reggio Emilia

Approach-play based methods). I think as a school we need to encourage our parents to have more

involvement with their child and their school life. This is something they do in Italy and the parents

have a very high level of involvement and are encouraged to be a part of their child’s education on a

daily basis. The children had more opportunities for open-ended play, which allows them to use

their imagination in as many ways as possible. This also allows the children to be able to engage in

the play and interact with peers in more than one way. When a class is set up all the staff knew

exactly why each activity had been set out and how this could develop the children in numerous

ways.

How I will use this….

I think our parents need to become more involved in their child’s education; one way would be to

invite parents in once a term so their child could show them what they’ve been focusing on and the

things they are proud of doing over the course of the term. Although we use tapestry that is a way of

parents seeing progress made online, but we can’t ensure all parents view it this way, this is why we

should hold the open days. We should put up displays of children’s work and have open days where

the parents can come in and see it that way. I also want more activities to be set out to encourage

open-ended play, this will help develop children with speech and language delays. I think every

member of staff should be aware of why each activity is set out and how it is going to develop

children of different levels and get them reaching their desired targets at the end of each academic

year. We should set out activities that the children are interested in and allow them to play and have

a say in what is out each day. Each class should have an activity set out for open-ended play,

including loose parts allowing them to play using their own imagination.

Lee Faris

Outline of trip:

A trip to the famous Reggio Emilia approach of play for children aged 0-6. We visited a range of

schools, spoke to regional "pedagogical Co-ordinators" and taught children to see the impact at

What I wanted from the experience:

The Reggio approach is famous for the play based methods used and I wanted to see this first-hand.

As schools in England are now taking children at 2 in primary school it was also my intention to see

how the later starting age (6) in Italy impacted on children as they moved through their education

system.

I saw many things that were useful and also many things that reinforced to me taught parts of the

UK system are successful (mainly the behaviour and school standards by KS2), however this report

will focus on the positives I saw from the trip and how these can be used to benefit British children.

What I saw done well in Italy:

The Italian education system has 3 main benefits which I believe are due to them having a higher

status for early years and also due to the early years children being in a separate school from

primary aged children. The system is fully run by teachers and 0-6 is state and authority run.

Parental engagement in the schools we visited was high, due to community involvement. The

children were all more confident, individual and articulate than British children and this is partly due

to the open-ended play they are exposed to from birth. All practice was rooted in a firm child

development background meaning teachers were respected.

Projects to roll out at home school based on Italian trip:

1) To increase parental engagement in our schools through non-insinuating workshops and

open afternoons eg iPads, parents in the library etc.

2) To have at least 1 open-ended loose parts play opportunity in all EYFS classes

3) To increase staff Child development knowledge through Inset and on the EYFS memo.

Desired impact of projects at home:

1) All parents attending at least 1 event a year

2) To have a 10% increase in the EYFS early learning goal / Early years outcomes (year on year

comparison) for the Being Imaginative Goal

3) For all staff to be more confident to discuss child development & to be able to critically and

coherently say why each element of provision is out and what impact it is intended to have

on play

Kerry Mcdonagh

Educational visit to Italy

During our stay we visited the regions of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Bologna and

were given the opportunity to look at the provision put in place for their early years,

which caters for children up to the age of 6 before they move on to primary school.

The state, municipality or private companies run Italian schools. The age of the

children in the pre-schools ranges from 3-6 and the main focus is on open-ended

play with strong family and community involvement. The pre-schools focus on social

and emotional development, creativity, language and communication, body and

movement and knowledge of the world. Their belief is that by creating experiences

through play it will help to promote the complete development of children’s

personalities as it allows the children to freely express themselves and build good

social and emotional development with peers, teachers and support staff. This could

be seen through the provision provided for them. There were lots of natural

resources that encouraged this development as well as resources that aided role-

play and imagination. Children with developmental needs and disabilities were

catered for and integrated within the settings and provided with specialist educators.

All the settings welcomed parents in to speak with the teachers and work with their

children with the opportunity to look at projects and work that the children had

completed. This happened at the beginning of the day and at the end. The teacher’s

role is to support children’s learning through play and planning, which is done from

the observation of children during play. They take into account the needs of the child,

their background and the child’s interests, which allow teachers to guide, explore and

encourage. There was a strong emphasis on children having the time and space to

be creative, explore and discover. One of the pre-schools we visited was a

Montessori pre-school and I noticed that children were really engaged in outdoor

play even though there were no resources or toys to play with. This I thought was

something I would like our children to experience and would be interested to see

how they would act. None of the settings we visited used technology like we do.

There was no teaching or testing of literacy and maths. Everything was aimed at the

physical and the development of the autonomy of children and preparing them for

primary school.

Kerry Mcdonagh

The experiences and opportunities these children are given helps them to become

socially and emotionally ready for school and learning when they reach the age of 6.

It would be nice for some of these elements to be incorporated into our early year’s

settings as I feel that some of our children would benefit from a more informal way of

learning as it helps to support their social and emotional needs, language and

communication, understanding and knowledge of the world as well as aiding with

their gross and fine motor skills. This has been a fantastic experience for myself and

I am grateful for having had the opportunity.

Jane Robinson

Visiting Italian pre & primary schools was an excellent opportunity to see how a country with a worldwide reputation did things differently to the U.K. I was excited to have the opportunity to view the delivery of Montessori education in its homeland of Reggio Emilia. We began the first day by being introduced to the Italian education system. Schooling is not compulsory until the age of 6 although many children attend nursery and pre-school. Nursery education is provided from 0-3. It is provided by the state and by the municipality. Municipality schools are expensive and cost parents €600 a month, the rest of the fees are paid by the municipality. Pre- primary is from 3-6 years old and Primary from 6-11. The Primary schools can choose to run a 24-hour week, 27, 30 or 40 hour week. This gives families and teachers the choice of how many hours of schooling they require or wish to deliver. Secondary schools are divided into lower and upper schools. The upper secondaries provide either an academic or a vocational education. Secondary school is compulsory until 16 years of age. The state provides University and it charges €2,000 each year. We learnt that only the state schools are inspected externally. The pupils are assessed but the results are not made public and schools are not ranked in order of attainment. Parents are assigned their local school. The main difference between the state and the municipal schools was the number of staff employed. The municipal schools have more staff available per pupil than the state schools. It was also clear that the richer the municipality the better the buildings were for the school. Each type of school is centrally coordinated by a Pedagogical Coordinator. This is compulsory and the person’s salary is paid for by all the stakeholders in the area. The salary of the Pedagogical Coordinator varies according to the choice of the municipality. On Day 2 we were introduced to one of the Pedagogical Coordinators in ECEC Parma Municipality and taken to a municipal pre-school, which worked closely with a local university. The school had a viewing room for research. The university used it to view and do research and development with the school on teachers and pupils. The Pedagogical Coordinator reassured us that there were strict protocols around its use. The room had a one-way mirror, which meant the room could be observed without the teachers and pupils aware that they were being viewed. In the afternoon we were driven to Collecchio and introduced to the town's mayor. The mayor was very proud of his school, Guatelli state run school and pre-school, in fact he said it was the thing of which he was most proud in his 7-year tenure as a mayor. We learnt how the school engages parents. We saw a board where all parental communication was posted with the responsibility put on the parent to ensure he or she engaged. We liked the idea but wondered how we would do this without the parents coming into the school building at the end of the day. We also viewed a garden where the parents had helped the children plant flowers and vegetables.

Jane Robinson

The following day we transferred to Reggio Emilia where we were taken to a state run school. Here we were divided into pairs and assigned a class in which to teach. A colleague and myself taught a class of 8 year olds. We decided to focus on drama games as we thought this would transcend the language barrier. We played Fruit Salad and taught the children the English names for the fruit. They obviously enjoyed coming from behind their desks to do something less formal. The Maths lesson that we had observed had been formal with the children completing a workbook. Several children were EAL but had no specific support, they were learning through 'immersion'. In the afternoon we transferred to the Scandiano Institio Comprehensivo Statale L Spallanzali, a state run school, where we saw the use of creative play areas, which allowed the children to structure the play. One area was developed using materials from a local recycling centre and donations from parents. We discussed how we might use this idea and find an appropriate space. It was clear that the children were free to use their imagination.

The following day was an Italian national holiday. On that day we had the opportunity to explore the castle of Torrechio, the most restored castle in Italy. We were then taken to an Italian farm, Agriturismo Ciato, which tested the efficiency of seeds imported from China. Here we had a 5-course lunch of foods reared and grown on the farm. Our final day was our opportunity to feedback on the week. We met at the municipal library, which

was funded by the people in the municipality. We discussed the differences in the two educational

systems and thought about our future foci: parental engagement, to have an open ended loose parts

play area in EYFS and to increase the child development knowledge of all staff.

Debbie Saunders

Programme on Early Childhood Education Care and Primary Education in Italy

29th May – 4th June 2016

A visit to Italy and to the famous Reggio Emilia approach of play for children aged 0-6. We visited a

range of schools, looking how the education system works and their approach to early years

settings. We met with regional pedagogical co-ordinators. We were given the opportunity to

observe and teach children in the primary school setting, allowing us to see the impact of the early

years.

What I wanted from the experience:

To see how learning through play at an early age is as important as picking up a pencil to write your

name at the age of six. How their system encourages parents to be more involved with their own

child’s education. How they could benefit our children and parents in the UK.

The early year’s educational settings have many benefits for children. Teacher’s observations and

working closely with the parents are all able to support and meet each individual child’s learning

needs.

The children are free from pressure of the national curriculum and exams, they learn at their own

pace helping to promote a whole harmonious development, respecting and appreciating their

growth rates, their abilities, their specific differences and identities.

The classrooms had lots of different activities where the children were able to be free and be

themselves, to enjoy learning, interacting, sharing, listening, turn taking, life skills that make them

rounded and a whole person. The children were more confident and individual. They have an

environment rich in opportunities to play, to learn, to socialise and to take risks.

Parental engagement and communication in the schools was high, their involvement is their child’s

education and well- being is fundamental in order to share choices and responsibility. They are

encouraged to use the facilities and play equipment that they can share with their children first thing

in the morning and at the end of the day, reinforcing how important this is for the whole

community. This is something we need to work on, as some of our parents have an unenthusiastic

approach to education, maybe due to their own experiences of schools.

When visiting and teaching in the primary school, I saw happy, confident children who were

welcoming and eager to introduce themselves and meet us. They were all happy to take part and

enjoyed the lesson. It is clear that the early years approach has its benefits on the children’s social

and emotional well-being.

Debbie Saunders

It brings a smile to my face when I see children having fun, enjoying playing, using their own

imagination, interacting, sharing with others and not realising they are learning while doing this, an

important part of a child’s development and well-being.

Desired impact of learning from this trip:

To be able to engage parents more in their child’s education, learning through play activities.

To be more confident to discuss child development and increase staff knowledge and

understanding of the needs for children to play explore and take safe risks. And how this

has an impact of the child’s developmental needs.

Thank you to everyone who was involved in this educational trip, it was an amazing experience and I

have gained many positives from this.

Bradley Smith

Opened ending play

Imagination is something that we all have, especially as children, but as we grow older it seems to

become less and less important. Without imagination we wouldn't have Father Christmas, the Easter

Bunny, Disney and many more. Imagination lets children be whoever they aspire to be: a brave

knight to ward off the Evil Queen and the fierce deadly dragon who breathes out fire which could kill

in an instant or a wizard who makes potions from the most unusual ingredients, anything is possible!

As educational professionals we forget the importance of imagination and focus too much on

academic levels, this is something that Italy has embraced (with the Reggio Emilia approach). Italian

teachers believe that a child using their imagination is just as important as them using a pen for the

first time. It teaches them how to interact with other children, work together as a team and socialise

using communication such as speech and hand gestures (which enhance vocabulary and movement)

these are all crucial parts of learning and growth.

On our educational visit we went to a few schools; one of them was a state run school which had

amazing open space full of fantastic ideas: the endless city and the recycling world were two. In both

of these areas the children are in groups of no more than six and can build anything that their

imagination wills. These projects will last a week; with photos and written evidence about them

recorded, allowing the parents to see the progress. The children can look at other designs to gain

ideas and compare, allowing the children to talk about their construction.

Parental engagement

As an educator I understand that once the school bell has rung the last thing staff members want is

to have parents coming in everyday with questions, but as a parent I can see the benefits of being

able to push your child further through seeing the progress they have made (or haven't) and building

up a close relationship with the teacher and support staff. This happening more in the UK would

foster a better relationship between parent and teacher. Italy has one hundred percent adopted this

style and many schools allow parents to come in to a big open space to interact with their child. This

interaction allows a bond between child and parent to develop. Parental interaction benefits

everyone involved: it allows the child to finish off homework or develop a closer bond with their

parent that sometimes they wouldn't achieve when at home, it allows the school and families to

build up a better relationship and find out more about the parent and their parental guidance.

Staff development around early years

Working in reception isn't considered as a normal teaching job by some people and can be looked

down on for not teaching "actual lessons", even though early years is really important. These are the

years that shape a child's life and allow them to find their personality. Early years allow children to

be social using communication in many ways: talking, sounds, hand gestures, drawing, writing and

more. With early years you have to be extremely vigilant, you need huge amounts of patience and

most importantly you need to be the child's Mum or Dad for the day, taking care of them and

allowing a trust to be built. You're always on the move and don't have a second to yourself. Being

asked five questions all at once is a frustrating feeling but it's something that early years staff are

used to. In Italy early years staff are more respected than in England and this is clear to see. This is

something that we need to work on, as any teaching job should command the same respect, no

matter what year you are working in.

Karen Turner

Italy Report: 29th May- 4th June

Programme on Early Childhood Education, Care and Primary

Education in Italy.

Outline of visit:

A visit to Italy and to the famous Reggio Emelia approach of play for children aged 0-6.

We visited a range of schools, looking at how the Italian system works and their approach to

learning. We met with regional pedagogical co-ordinators. We were given the opportunity

to teach children in the primary setting, enabling us to see the impact of the early years

settings.

My experience:

Firstly, I want to thank SERN and ERASMUS for this opportunity, it was an amazing

experience and I gained many positives from this trip, and how they could be used to

benefit our children in the UK.

The Italian education system has many benefits for the children in the early years settings.

The early years teachers are well respected and are given a much higher status than here in

the UK. All practice is firmly rooted in child development. I personally was interested to see

the impact this has on their social and emotional wellbeing, as children start school at the

later age of six.

We visited and met many educators who were clearly passionate about their provision and

the children they teach. We visited both state run and municipal schools, along with seeing

the Reggio Emelia and Montessori approach to learning.

Parental engagement is not only high but considered the norm, the expectation for parents

to be fully involved in their child’s education is well thought out and parents are encouraged

to take responsibility and an active part in their child’s learning. I saw this in action, with

parents greeting teachers positively and being respectful towards them. Communication

with the parents was clearly evident, through 1 to 1 conversation and also through letters in

creative pigeonholes! I only saw positive interaction between staff and parents. This is

something we need to work on, as some of our parents have a negative view of school,

maybe due to their own life experiences.

When visiting and teaching in the primary school, I saw confident, articulate children eager

to introduce themselves, with a handshake, eye contact and a happy greeting. Clearly the

early years approach has benefitted their social and emotional skills. I would be interested

to see how this impacts on their secondary education, as I was aware of some behaviour

issues, although I did not know the children’s full stories.

Karen Turner

One thing that stood out to me very clearly and differed from our own system was the lack

of technology within the classrooms. Although there was some evidence, I found this a

huge difference. All of our classrooms, at all ages, are equipped with interactive

whiteboards, laptops and ipads. Teachers communicate with each other through email

daily. Children use technology on a daily basis.

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the children learning through play, using their imagination, risk

taking, making their own choices and decisions. I myself have always believed that the

evidence of children’s learning should not be found on a worksheet and that time exploring,

processing, and enjoying their surroundings is vital to their development and wellbeing.

Desired Impact of learning from this trip:

To be able to engage parents more fully in their child’s education, by increasing parental engagement in our schools

To increase staff knowledge, to be more confident and able to discuss child development.

To have a greater understanding of the need for children to explore through play and the impact this has on a child’s development.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently

know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”” Albert Einstein.