Rod Soper Wellbeing

Five days in Reggio Emilia and I came back a different kind of certain. Certain that children are not incomplete versions of adults. Certain that a real provocation stops a child in their tracks and makes them ask a question they have never thought to ask before. Certain that teaching is an act of hope. This week reminded me why I do this work, and what it looks like when that choice is made with seriousness, and with love, and with joy. Watch the video and tell me what does this bring up for you? Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange

Final day in Reggio Emilia. And honestly, it felt like the week landed right here.
Two ideas kept running through the session. Freedom – the relationship between education and liberation. And imperfection. By the end, I realised they were very connected conversations.
Children have the right to be informed about reality. Reality held carefully, interpreted honestly, shared within the group. Whether the topic of discovery is freedom, life, or war – our job as educators is to slow down, pay attention, find the joy in deep discovery, and trust that children can handle truth when we hold it with them rather than hide it from them.
That trust is not naive. It is hopeful. Teaching is an act of hope. It orients itself toward children’s futures, toward their rights, toward who they are becoming.
We teach to liberate. And nothing – nothing – without joy.
The second thread surprised me. In Reggio thinking, mistakes aren’t just tolerated. They’re doorways. Unexpected encounters. And then the question got harder – how do we break rules so innovation can flourish, without causing more harm in the breaking? How do we practise principled disobedience to systems, not to children, in order to protect those experiencing inequality?
Imperfection is not the opposite of quality. It’s the baseline from which quality grows. Education is not neutral. It repairs. Or it misses the window.
A full week. A lot to carry home. But I think that’s exactly the point. 🙏
Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange

Hands in clay. Mind reset. 🏺

Day four of the Reggio Emilia Study Tour took us into the atelier at the Malaguzzi Centre and it was one of those quietly moving experiences.

No instructions. No right answer. Just an invitation to explore clay as a language.

My first instinct was to make something recognisable. To produce.

And that instinct? That's exactly what the Reggio approach gently, persistently challenges.

Because the atelier isn't an art room. It's a space where children, and apparently adults, get to think through their hands.

"The art of research is already in the hands of children - highly sensitive to enjoyment of wonder."
-Loris Malaguzzi

Are we giving children the space, the materials and the time to learn that way? 🤔


Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange

Day 3. Reggio Emilia. And we finally got honest about the word provocation.

It’s not simply a beautiful table set-up. It’s not simply an activity with a destination. It’s not a resource dump with good aesthetics.

A real provocation stops a child in their tracks. It makes them lean in, look twice, ask a question they’ve never thought to ask before. It sparks the kind of awe and wonder that no worksheet ever could.
A mirror. A shadow. A single question left hanging in the air or an idea offered back to children to reflect on.
That’s it. That’s the magic.


Reggio Emilia Australia Information Exchange

Big learning today, that our environments need to be curated and designed in such a way that enables rich engagement for all children.

What a full day of thinking and wondering about children’s rights and exploring their worlds.

Watch what happens when we take the time to be present for our children and young people! So much can become possible! Let’s be present for them and connect.