Abstract
The Experiences of Teachers in Reggio Emilia-Inspired Preschools: A Phenomenological Study
Reggio Emilia pedagogy is one of the contemporary approaches to early childhood
education. According to Reggio Emilia, which based on constructivism, socialconstructivism
and critical pedagogy approaches, children construct their knowledge by
conducting research on the topic they inquired about, creating projects in which they are
interested in, involving hands-on and minds-on activities, using science process skills,
expressing themselves through various ways such as visual arts and play. In recent years,
although Reggio Emilia approach is being widely used in Turkish preschools, there is not
much research on the applications of Reggio Emilia approach in Turkish schools. The aim
of this research is to explore how teachers in Reggio Emilia-Inspired preschools make
sense experience of the application of this approach. The current research, appropriate
for the aim of the research, adopted qualitative research method design. One of the
qualitative research methods, namely phenomenological design was used to collect and
analyze the data. Research data was collected via semi-structured interviews. 20 preschool
teachers in Reggio Emilia-Inspired schools in İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir that
were determined by purposeful sampling strategy participated in this research. Data of
the research was analyzed using thematic analysis. According to the results of the current
research, participants describes all of the children as independent, creative, social, smart,
curious, and adequate individuals, and accept them as unique individuals who learn in
their unique way. It is also found out that participant teachers supports children's learning
by playing a variety of roles and colloborating and cooperating with parents and children.
It is seen that participants enrich the environment according to the environment principle
of the Reggio Emilia approach. Moreover, it is found that in those schools children learn
by researching and doing projects hands-on, teachers do documentation in every stage of
the teaching and learning, the programs supports children’s inquiry skills, environmental
consciousness, creativity, self-efficacy beliefs and problem solving skills.
Keywords
Early Childhood Education, Teacher, Experience, Phenomenology, Reggio Emilia Approach.
