School choice

Bilingual / international or Reggio Emilia?

The difference between Bilingual / international and Reggio Emilia is mostly one axis: what it is for. Bilingual / international sits toward it should set up university and a career; Reggio Emilia sits toward childhood is the point. They agree, more than most people expect, on a view of the world. Neither is the correct one. What follows is what each asks of a parent, and where the difference actually shows up on a Tuesday.

Bilingual / international

Teaching runs in two languages, often with a national curriculum on one side and another on the other, in a cohort assembled from several countries. For a family that has moved, may move again, or wants a heritage language kept alive at school rather than only at home, it resolves something no local school can. The academic programme is usually conventional and demanding; the language is the differentiator.

What it asks of you

  • Fees, and usually a commute
  • Accepting slower early progress in both languages before it compounds
  • A cohort that turns over as families relocate, and friendships that go with them
  • Supporting the weaker language at home, which lands on the parents

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

Bilingual / international is the filled marker, Reggio Emilia the hollow one. Widest difference first.

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

Bilingual / international sits toward it should set up university and a career; Reggio Emilia sits toward childhood is the point.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward a fixed body of knowledge, set in advance; Reggio Emilia sits firmly toward it emerges from the children.

L3Measuring it
no grades, no testsgraded and tested regularly

Bilingual / international sits a little 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

Bilingual / international sits toward timetabled, and directed by adults; Reggio Emilia sits toward the child chooses what to do.

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

Bilingual / international sits toward early, and ambitiously; Reggio Emilia sits toward when the child is ready, and late is fine.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward school has to run without the parents; Reggio Emilia sits toward being in it, daily.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward an authority who instructs; Reggio Emilia sits toward a guide who steps back.

E1Mixed ages
classes of the same agemixed-age groups

Bilingual / international sits toward classes of the same age; Reggio Emilia sits between the two.

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

Bilingual / international sits a little toward learning happens at a table; Reggio Emilia sits toward outdoors and hands-on is the point.

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

Bilingual / international sits firmly toward we can pay, and we can travel; Reggio Emilia sits toward we can pay, and we can travel.

Where they agree

Usually more than the argument between them suggests.

  • A view of the world. Both sit a little toward school should stay neutral.

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