Topics include:
Complementary family-centered systems of early care, education, and intervention Practical experimentation and teaching strategies like the inserimento (first transition of child and family into the center), and diario (memory book), as well as explanations of the rationale behind them Best practices for quality care programs with broad implications for reflective teaching in America's early care programs“Bravo for a splendid book! Leading figures in Italy's famous preschool movement (plus a few well-informed foreigners) provide vivid descriptions not only of pedagogical practices, but also of the evolving politics of decentralization that has kept Italy's preschools under local community control with no sacrifice of standards. Compulsory reading!”
—Jerome Bruner, New York University
“This book is simply wonderful—every page! Throughout the sixteen chapters—written mostly by the Italians themselves—practices, policies, reflections, and research on how best to serve infants and toddlers and their families are shared.”
—Lilian G. Katz, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
“Though the Italian experience cannot simply be transplanted to the United States, by staying in the conversation, we will deepen and sharpen our understanding of what we want for our infant-toddler parent-teacher programs and may even discover some strategies for getting them there.”
—E. Z. Tronick, Harvard School of Education and Harvard Medical School