Voices of Identity, Language and Pedagogy: A Reggio Emilia Approach across a Mulitilingual Context in Bristol

This presentation reports on preliminary critical ethnographic findings from a pre-school in Bristol that draws form the Reggio Emilia approach (Abbot & Nutbrown 2001). Drawing data from interviews, classroom observations and school documents, I show how teachers and staff are making pedagogical and assessment choices that incorporate EAL students' out-of-school multilingual, multiliteracies and identity practices for the development and expansion of school literacies. This research shows how early years practitioners working from a Reggio Emilia approach that foregrounds students' creativity, their families' linguistic and cultural knowledge can create an inclusive educational community.