Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Retracing the evolution of the concept of social inclusion, from a regulatory, historical and value point of view, the experience of the city of Reggio Emilia identifies an educational reality which, at the forefront as regards attention to educational need special, has been able to decline diversity as a continuous oppor-tunity for growth for the whole of society with policies to enhance the person. The participatory approach, characterizing the experience of the infant-toddler centers and schools from the outset, has seen an opportunity in the sharing of educational responsibility: individuals, institutions, with their own resources and potential, have contributed to broadening the horizons of the community, de-termining the emergence of various educational alliance with various realities of the third sector which, no longer relegated to the mechanical supply of services, have actively become part of the network of rela-tionships originating creative, flexible and feasible solutions.

Museums have now overt relevance for the purposes of social inclusion, thanks to the widespread and determined international action of systemic promotion of programs and strategies of cultural interpretation and mediation for numerous types of categories of citizens at risk (people with disabilities, refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, prisoners, LGBTQ+ community, low-income or unemployed people, people from proving cultural contexts etc ...). But the relationship between museums and users is of highly complex nature: both for the intrinsic specificity of each museum, characterized by unique peculiarities for what concerns the place, the context, the policy and the staff, and for its audience, where each person can visit and participate in a specific way. Strategies imagined for target categories of people could be adapted and personalized for any individuals that share the same fundamental matrix. In this contribution, we propose to transpose the Reggio Emilia Approach, born in the context of children's education, to the museum context, especially as regards to the practice of documentation and the analysis of social matrixes. Firstly, as an understanding of the unconscious levels that intertwine at the foundation of the nature and purpose of museums; secondly as a shared recognition of the inclusive potential of the museum; and finally, as a self-assessment and process evaluation, for the construction of meanings, the education to complexity and the implementation of democratic practices of participation. Such reflections generate new visions and interpretations of the museum’s functions, and as such perpetuate the creative activity celebrated in the same institution. Museums become a place of hermeneutic and epistemological interpretation, their collections and the proposed itineraries take on a key role in learning to ask questions not only for the users but also for all those who want to be part of the process, grasping looks, possibilities, and understandings.

Exploring visions and methods to pursue high level education means to study how each person is allowed to develop new intellectual, aesthetic, and operational perspective, as well as grasp new insights for growth and enrichment of one’s understanding of the world. The authors present the pilot phase of an analysis of the first industrial doctorate in Reggio Chilhood Studies, organized by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in collaboration with the Reggio Children Foundation: its socio-constructivist matrix is highlighted. In fact, constructing a community of learners allows cross-fertilization among diverse disciplinary knowledge and many cultures. The study hereby presented explores the variables of such learning community, through the analysis of in-depth interviews of the PhD fellows. Results show factors and variables that can affect and challenge the existence of the community. Recommendations are made to continue exploring the doctoral community, bringing in the picture all the stakeholders involved.

Retracing the educational ideas offered by Montessori and Dewey, this contribution intends to propose a reasoned reading of the role of context as an educating factor in Reggio’s pedagogy. According to a socio-constructivist approach, not only the school environment, but any type of social and cultural context can be important for educational purposes if significant relationships are identified and highlighted, in a generative perspective of new meanings and relationships.