After more than 50 years of existence, the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education still has a significant international influence.  The child-centred educational approach, emphasising children's symbolic languages in the context of a project-oriented curriculum, parental involvement, teachers' co-learning role and pedagogical value of the physical environment (Malaguzzi, 1994), is currently being critically and selectively adopted also in Slovenian preschools (Devjak and Berčnik, 2009). There has been considerable homeland support within the theory of education to particularly integrate the Reggio Emilia's understanding of the role of the arts in child's development and learning (Kroflič, 2010). This paper aims to represent and discuss the results of a research into selected curriculum-based art teaching practices in Slovenian preschools from the perspective of the Reggio Emilia approach. Theories such as »meaningful« child's visual representation (Matthews, 2003), art as child's »symbolic language« (Malaguzzi, 1994), »child's competency«  in terms of expressive autonomy (Vecchi,  1998) and »relational pedagogy« in early childhood art education (Rinaldi, 2006) framed the research. The research into art teaching practices was roughly divided into two parts. The first part focused on the use of art materials and open resources  to support child's creativity (Thronton and Brunton, 2007), giving opportunities for multisensory experiences (Matthews, 2003; Thronton and Brunton, 2007), enabling art-viewing experiences, fostering holistic experiences by combining visual  art with non-visual art activities, and respecting child's individual needs in arts learning (Forman, 1994; Prentice, Matthews and Taylor, 2003). The second part of the research focused on the use of outdoor enviroment for art activities (Thronton and Brunton, 2007), visits to museums and galleries as authentic places of art (Vecchi and Giudici, 2004), and cooperation with professional artists. We also looked at the role of the adult, namely at the involvement of parents in visual art activities. The findings of the research, initially done with respect to the Reggio Emilia approach, indicate certain features of the quality of teaching art in Slovenian preschools.

Devjak, T., Berčnik, S. (2009). Including elements of the Reggio Emilia concept in the Slovene curriculum for pre-school education. The learning teacher journal, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 39–53. Forman, G. (1994). Different Media, Different Languages. In: Katz, L.G., Cesarone, B. (eds.), Reflections on the Reggio Emilia Approach. Urbana, Illinois: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education, pp. 41–53. Kroflič, R. (2010). Etična in politična dimenzija projekta Reggio Emilia/Ethical and political dimensions of the Reggio Emilia project. In: T. Devjak et al. (eds.), Pedagoški koncept Reggio Emilia in Kurikulum za vrtce: podobnosti v različnosti. Ljubljana: Pedagoška fakulteta, pp. 11–66. Malaguzzi, L. (1994). History, ideas, and basic philosophy. In: C. Edwards, L. Gandini, G. Forman (eds.), The hundred languages of children: The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. New Jersey: Ablex publishing Corporation, pp. 41–89. Marjanovič Umek, L., Fekonja Peklaj, U. (2008). Sodoben vrtec: možnosti za otrokov razvoj in zgodnje učenje Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovalni inštitut Filozofske fakultete. Matthews J. (2003). Drawing and Painting. Children and Visual Presentation. London: Paul Chapman Publishing, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: SAGE Publications. Prentice, R., Matthews, J., Taylor, H. (2003). Creative development: Learning and the arts. In: Riley, J. (ed.), Learning in the early years. A guide for teaching of children 3-7. London: Paul Chapman Publishing, pp. 185–218. Thornton, L., Brunton, P. (2007). Bringing the Reggio Approach to your Early Years Practice. London, New York: Routledge. Vecchi, V. (1998). The Role of the Atelierista: An Interview with Lella Gandini. In: Edwards, C., Gandini, L., Forman, G. (eds.). The Hundred Languages of Children: The Reggio Emilia Approach – Advanced Reflections. Greenwich, London: Ablex Publishing, pp. 139–147. Vecchi, V., Giudici, C. (eds.) (2004). Children, Art, Artists. The expressive languages of children, the artistic language of Alberto Burri. Reggio Emilia: Reggio Children.