Fundamentals: Formazione
In order to create both a pathway for people new to Reggio-inspired work and deepen our shared thinking, we offer a regular column, Fundamentals, to introduce and explore central principles of the Reggio Approach. The Reggio Approach is a complex system of thought and practice with many dynamic entry points that interact; it is not a method, program or curriculum. (Key Principles)

In the United States, we typically refer to professional development as processes that occur outside of the everyday and external to the individual, such as instruction or ‘training’ via classes, certificate and degree programs and in-service workshops or conference sessions.

While teachers in Reggio Emilia do engage in formal activities similar to what we call professional development, they value a deeper and more daily avenue of professional learning, which they refer to as formazione.

Formazione…from Malaguzzi’s perspective, is an integral part of the everyday pedagogical work, an attitude of mind, a way of thinking and being, a part of life, an inseparable element of what it means to be an educator. Valuing uncertainty and wonder and with the concept of evolution in mind, Malaguzzi would have hoped for and welcomed surprising and unexpected consequences, the creation of thought, understandings and knowledge.

-Peter Moss, Role of the Pedagogista, p. 10

Formazione is used to refer to processes of continuous collegial dialogue, engaging multiple perspectives, research based on observation, interpretation and documentation, resulting in knowledge-building and professional learning. Therefore, formazione is from within, with others and socially co-constructed. Inquiry into the not-yet-known-possible involves continuous exchange. We never ‘arrive.’