A response to Jewish educators turned away by Reggio Emilia

Anyone who knows me either professionally or personally has heard me speak passionately about high-quality early childhood education. They also know how deeply the Reggio Emilia approach has shaped my understanding and beliefs about education. I bought in, full stop. For almost 20 years, I have built my career on the pedagogy Loris Malaguzzi developed in the northern Italian town of Reggio Emilia, advocating for it and creating programs centered on its principles.

This past week, part of my worldview was challenged. A group of Jewish educators had planned to travel to Reggio Emilia with the Paradigm Project, an organization that supports Reggio-inspired teaching in Jewish early childhood programs. They planned to join a study group at the Malaguzzi Center, the educational hub of the Reggio Emilia approach. According to participants in the Paradigm Project cohort, Reggio Children, which organizes the center’s programming, asked them to sign their newly created charter, “For Participatory Education.” They were also asked to sign a separate document that, according to reporting by the Jewish Insider, said, “I distance myself from the occupation of Gaza and the violation of children’s and human beings’ rights in the occupied territories as well as in every place in the world.” The second document was given only to teachers from Jewish schools. They chose to cancel their trip.

I visited Reggio Emilia a few years ago as a representative of Schechter Bergen, the Jewish day school where I work. I understand the importance of this trip, and I am disappointed for my fellow Jewish educators who were not afforded the opportunity to participate. Their conditional acceptance is, in fact, rejection, and it feels like a rejection of me, my school, my teachers, and my students. The Reggio educators, whom I valued and who have shaped the lives of thousands of children, have become active participants in a discourse irrelevant to my understanding of practicing early childhood education and teacher development. Instead, Reggio Children put adult politics and fears ahead of young children’s growth. They imposed their will, the antithesis of Malaguzzi’s philosophy.

While various news sources litigate the controversy over the exact wording and intent, and who ultimately should take responsibility for the document Jewish educators were asked to sign, our responsibility remains to our students. Regardless of how this conflict is resolved, fellow Jewish educators were singled out. We, in turn, have the obligation, no matter how disappointed we may feel, to teach our children.

Malaguzzi understood that children are natural observers who come to the world with no preconceived notions, that they have the right to determine their own learning, and that they are capable of doing so. They should be nurtured and allowed to question openly, disagree, challenge, and explore until they discover their own answers. This philosophy encourages democratic, respectful, intellectual discovery and affirms that all children and adults are essential members of a community. These values may have first been articulated in Reggio Emilia, but they have taken root in our early childhood program and become our own.

Over the past few days, members of our community have reached out to share their own shock and confusion. One parent asked whether we would still consider ourselves a Reggio-inspired program. My answer to each family has been the same. We can be hurt and disappointed. We can and should struggle with the state of antisemitism around the world, and we should be angry about the conditions unfairly placed on our fellow Jewish educators. That is our current truth, and our children still deserve an education in which they are respected as people in their own right. We will not turn our backs on the richness of our educational approach, whether it is referred to as one that originated in Reggio Emilia.

Perhaps this situation, which left many of us feeling unmoored, should inspire us to be resolved and emboldened. These are words that we, Jewish educators, should lean toward. We will take this experience and remind ourselves that the most important point is, in fact, our commitment to educating Jewish children to think critically, to investigate, and to hold their heads high. We will teach them that they, like everyone else, have the right to self-determination, to high-quality education, and to adults who care about them and stand up for them.

I hope, in time, Reggio Children and the municipality of Reggio Emilia will choose inclusion and discourse. In the meantime, our children will grow. We will teach them to explore their Judaism and their humanity. This moment has only proven to us, once again, why Israel exists and why we will continue to be Zionists.

Gena Khelemsky is the early childhood director at Schechter Bergen in New Milford. She has 20 years of experience in educational institutions, including the Bank Street Family Center, the Barnard Toddler Center, and the Horace Mann School. She is also a proud Schechter Bergen alumna and parent.

Opinion