Exploring pedagogical relationships within a culture of creativity in a Reggio Emilia-inspired school

The current study explores what characterizes the relationship between the pedagogical
processes within a school culture of creativity in a Reggio Emilia-inspired school in the
Southeastern United States. The questions which frame the study are:
1. How is a culture of creativity fostered within a Reggio Emilia-inspired
school?
2. Within a culture of creativity, what characterizes the relationship between the
pedagogical processes of curriculum and assessment?
The research was designed as ethnography and incorporates multiple data sets which
provide layers of rich and descriptive information that reveal how to foster a culture of
creativity in a school for young children. These data sets were generated by the
researcher and the study participants over 18 weeks of ethnographic fieldwork and
participant observation. These data sets include class group observations, professional development observations, interviews, focus groups, and audio-photo vignettes of the life
of the Reggio Emilia-inspired school which served as the research site for the
ethnography. Through ongoing, iterative, and eclectic processes of qualitative data
analysis, the researcher identified four emergent themes in the combined data generated
during fieldwork. These themes represent the four findings of the study and are presented
in the work in terms of answers to research questions, as well as how they support study
conclusions, implications, and suggestions for future research in early childhood
education. The four thematic findings that emerged in the ethnographic data generated for
this study are: The Protagonists, The Daily Life, Research and Analysis, and Languages
of Expression.