Reflections on the Image of the Child: Reproducer or Creator of Culture

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In February 2002, I visited the infant/toddler and preprimary schools in Reggio Emilia (Italy) for the third time. Each visit has helped me to probe more deeply into their educational philosophy and the possibilities it opens for us in North America. Reggio educators' image of the child and how it permeates all that they do has profoundly impacted me. I often use Your Image of the Child-Where Teaching Begins by Loris Malaguzzi (1994), founder of the Reggio philosophy, to start conversations with my pre-service education students and my graduate students about the images of children we hold and the impact, implicitly and explicitly, that this has on the assumptions we have and choices we …