Listening and Documenting in the Reggio Approach: The Challenge and the Vision Stemming from Bruner’s Contribution

The pedagogy of listening was born and developed in Reggio Emilia’s schools, in northern Italy. This article analyses the pedagogy of listening in the light of the fundamental texts of the Reggio Approach’s literature. The aim is to explore some key-concepts such as language, context, relationship and evaluation and also to link them to Jerome Bruner’s work and contributions. Moreover, the authors attempt to offer an in-depth view of “documentation” as the crucial tool to ground the listening into the dynamics among the many educational actors involved. In the last part of the article, we underline the importance of democratic values in the Reggio Approach and in its socio-constructivist approach to active citizenship and children’s rights.