School choice

Faith-based or Reggio Emilia?

The difference between Faith-based and Reggio Emilia is mostly one axis: where the curriculum comes from. Faith-based sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward it emerges from the children. They agree, more than most people expect, on technology at school. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Faith-based

Education inside an explicit religious frame, where the worldview is not confined to a lesson but runs through the day, the year and the community. For families who hold a faith this resolves something no other option does: the school is not neutral about what matters, and is not neutral in the same direction as the household. The cohort is usually more homogeneous, which is both the attraction and the cost.

What it asks of you

  • Accepting a narrower range of families than your area actually contains
  • Clarity about what happens if your own beliefs shift, or your child's do
  • Involvement in a community, which is usually part of the arrangement rather than optional

Reggio Emilia

There is no curriculum set in advance. Teachers watch what a group of children is drawn to, document it obsessively, and build long projects out of it — which may run for months. The environment is treated as a third teacher, expression takes a hundred forms, and the documentation on the walls is the record of the thinking rather than display work.

What it asks of you

  • Tolerating genuine uncertainty about what your child will study this term
  • A school with the staffing to do it, since the method is expensive in adult attention
  • Reading the documentation, which is where the learning is visible and is easy to walk past
  • Accepting it is an early-years approach; few Reggio schools run past six
Side by side

Where they differ

Faith-based is the filled marker, Reggio Emilia the hollow one. Widest difference first.

L4Where the curriculum comes from
it emerges from the childrena fixed body of knowledge, set in advance

Faith-based sits toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward it emerges from the children.

V1A view of the world
school should stay neutralschool should teach a view of the world

Faith-based sits firmly toward school should teach a view of the world; Reggio Emilia sits a little toward school should stay neutral.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Faith-based sits toward graded and tested regularly; Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward no grades, no tests.

L1Who directs the day
the child chooses what to dotimetabled, and directed by adults

Faith-based sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults; Reggio Emilia sits toward the child chooses what to do.

L5What a teacher is
a guide who steps backan authority who instructs

Faith-based sits toward an authority who instructs; Reggio Emilia sits toward a guide who steps back.

E2Outdoors and the body
learning happens at a tableoutdoors and hands-on is the point

Faith-based sits toward learning happens at a table; Reggio Emilia sits toward outdoors and hands-on is the point.

V2Who else is there
a broad, mixed intake matters mosta community that shares our values matters most

Faith-based sits firmly toward a community that shares our values matters most; Reggio Emilia sits between the two.

C2Money and distancewhat your life allows
free and local, or it is not an optionwe can pay, and we can travel

Faith-based sits toward free and local, or it is not an option; Reggio Emilia sits toward we can pay, and we can travel.

V3What it is for
childhood is the pointit should set up university and a career

Faith-based sits between the two; Reggio Emilia sits toward childhood is the point.

L2When formal academics start
when the child is ready, and late is fineearly, and ambitiously

Faith-based sits a little toward early, and ambitiously; Reggio Emilia sits toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Faith-based sits toward classes of the same age; Reggio Emilia sits between the two.

C1What the family can put inwhat your life allows
school has to run without the parentsbeing in it, daily

Faith-based sits a little toward being in it, daily; Reggio Emilia sits toward being in it, daily.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • Technology at school. Both sit between the two.

Neither of these is the correct one

Which fits depends on what you value and on what your week actually allows — and the second of those is the half nobody writes about. The questionnaire scores both.

See which one you are already doing