Abstract:

"Professional training of educational staff for implementing special educational principles of Reggio Emilia concept in the field of pre-school education in the years 2008-2013" is the title of the project, which Faculty of education of University of Ljubljana obtained and is funded by the European Social Fund and Ministry of Education and Sports. The project is based on the analysis, development and integration of individual elements of the Reggio Emilia concept in the kindergartens in the Slovenian environment. Through the project we would like to include in kindergartens those elements of Reggio Emilia concept, which we can recognize as an upgrade or elevation of the National curriculum for preschool education (1999). In this text authors: (1) represent the basic positions or certain elements of Reggio Emilia concept in Slovenian kindergartens and focus mainly on items such as: cooperation between kindergarten and the environment in which it operates, kindergarten, which co-designs the culture of the local environment and the children, who learn about tolerant and respectful attitude towards others and different and (2) present the results of the research (N = 331) among the preschool teachers on the discussed topic. The research results show that just over 60% of preschool teachers have already heard of the Reggio Emilia educational concept and that only one third of them know special elements of this concept, and only 5.2% of them know the Reggio Emilia concept as a whole. However, their opinion importantly varies depending on the environment (urban or village) on the importance and forms of cooperation between kindergarten and the environment in which the kindergarten operates.

Keywords:

Educational concept, Reggio Emilia, local community, cooperation, culture of the environment.