Why Do Educators Need One Another?

Why Do Educators Need One Another?

Reflections on Mentoring, Professional Learning, and Building a Community of Inquiry

There is something both inspiring and challenging about choosing the Reggio Emilia Approach as a guiding philosophy for our practice. Many educators first encounter Reggio Emilia through beautiful learning environments, thoughtful documentation panels, or books that describe a different image of childhood. We leave inspired by what we have seen and eager to bring those ideas into our own classrooms. Then reality begins. We soon discover that learning from Reggio Emilia is not about replicating beautiful spaces or even projects. Actually, the Reggio Emilia Approach invites us to rethink our image of the child, our understanding of learning, and even our identity as educators. It asks us to question habits, embrace uncertainty, and develop new ways of listening, observing, and responding.

Choosing to learn from the Reggio Emilia Approach is an exciting journey, but it can also be confusing—especially when we feel alone along the way. Often, we need to go through a process to unlearn the traditional concept of teaching and relearn what learning and educating means in our contemporary context. Many educators have experienced the challenge of trying to transform their practice while wondering: Where do I start? How do I move beyond activities toward meaningful inquiry? Am I really understanding what matters here? Who can I think with?

These are not questions that can be answered in a single workshop or congress. They are questions that invite us into an ongoing process of professional learning.

Educational researcher Michael Fullan (2015) reminds us that meaningful professional growth depends not only on what individual educators know, but also on how they learn together. In Professional Capital, Fullan describes three forms of professional capital: human capital, social capital, and decisional capital. While human capital refers to the knowledge and skills each educator brings, social capital grows through relationships, dialogue, and collaboration with colleagues, and decisional capital develops through experience, reflection, and professional judgment. This perspective challenges the idea that professional development happens only through courses or workshops. Instead, it reminds us that educational change is fundamentally relational. We become better educators not simply because we accumulate more information, but because we think, question, and reflect alongside others.

The Reggio Emilia educational project offers a similar understanding of professional learning. Rather than speaking only about professional development, educators in Reggio Emilia often refer to formazione—a concept that has no direct English translation. Formazione describes the ongoing formation of educators through relationships, dialogue, study, research and shared reflection. As Paola Cagliari explains (2024), “Formazione is always a self-formazione, that is to say, the conscious activation of working for our own elaboration and comprehending the points of view of others." In other words, Cagliari proposes "we are formed together." This understanding changes how we think about learning. Professional growth is no longer something delivered to educators. It becomes something educators construct together.

Carla Rinaldi's Pedagogy of Listening (2006) further expands this idea. Listening is not simply hearing another person's words. It is an intentional disposition of openness—a willingness to suspend certainty, to consider multiple perspectives, and to allow ourselves to be changed through dialogue. Perhaps this is one of the greatest gifts of learning communities. They invite us not only to improve our practice but also to continue becoming.

Why Mentoring and Networking Community?

This understanding is the foundation of the Calgary Reggio Network Association's Mentoring & Networking Program. Our intention is not simply to offer another professional development opportunity. Traditional mentoring is often described as a learning relationship in which a more experienced professional shares knowledge and guidance with another educator. Our vision is different. We hope to cultivate a community of educators who are willing to think together, ask difficult questions, visit one another's learning environments, engage in meaningful pedagogical conversations, and continue exploring the possibilities inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach.

Whether you are taking your first steps into this philosophy or have been studying it for many years, each educator brings unique experiences, questions, and perspectives that enrich our collective learning. We believe that mentoring is strengthened by networking, and networking becomes meaningful when it is grounded in genuine relationships, thoughtful dialogue, and shared inquiry. We aim to create a community where educators listen deeply, think together, and accompany one another in becoming increasingly intentional in their practice.

References

Fullan, M., Hord, S., & Von Frank, V. (2015). Reach the Highest Standard in Professional Learning.

Giamminuti, S., Cagliari, C., Giudici, C., & Strozzi, P. (2024). The Role of the Pedagogista in Reggio Emilia. Voices and Ideas for a Dialectic Educational Experience.

Rinaldi, C. (2006). In Dialogue with Reggio Emilia: Listening, Researching and Learning.