House of Knowledge School (HoK) swears by it; the Reggio Emilia approach to education. The concept named after an Italian city offers an unprecedented early development strategy for children. In 2007, this unique way of teaching made its first appearance on the Beijing scene, as HoK opened its doors.

But what is so special about the Reggio Emilia way? Teachers! It mostly hinges on the teachers and their responsibilities as educators, which are very different from the conventional approach to education.

Classroom Can be Homes Too!

HoK’s learning environment is carefully designed to make learning like home.

Respecting the Child
It’s still common for a teacher to take on the role of authority and presenter of knowledge, the one who tells the students what they need to know. However, the Reggio Emilia concept calls for the teacher to act more as a learning partner to the children rather than someone who knows everything better.

“A Reggio teacher is not primarily providing knowledge. It’s providing knowledge in the path. This means even if your answer might be wrong, you listen to it as the teacher,” says Farshad Danicek, co-founder of HoK.

Micossi started out at HoK as a teacher in her own right

“In Reggio Emilia what the teachers strive to do is deliberately not give these kinds of answers, and instead get down on the level with the children literally and figuratively and go through the learning process together,” shares Amanda Micossi, kindergarten principal at the school’s Chaoyang Park Campus.

All the teachers sit on the small, child-sized chairs, or on the floor with the children rather than standing up and staring at them from up above.

At HoK, the belief is that having this positive, strong, and trusting relationship with the teachers and school from a very young age strongly influences a child’s attitude towards the school for the rest of its life.

Giving the Child Space
This educational approach also helps teachers ensure that they don’t limit the students’ creative space. Micossi shows us the school’s art room and explains that many children’s creativity is all too frequently inhibited by the opinions and expectations placed upon them by society.

“One of the founding ideas of Reggio Emilia is that when children are born they have infinite ways of expressing themselves, but over time teachers will say ‘What, no, what are you talking about? Don’t do it like this! And parents will say ‘No, that’s the wrong way. And friends will say ‘That’s not cool’. And slowly, slowly all these ways of expression get tamped down to the acceptable one,” explains Micossi.

Educators involvement is key in the Reggio Emilia approach

“But when we want innovative thinkers and free spirits, to have them whittled down into the same mould makes no sense. So, that’s the idea of the art room. When they come here the teacher will say ‘Ok, we’re making dinosaurs. Go’.”

Student-Led Learning
Reggio Emilia calls for student-led learning. The teacher needs to take a backseat in this environment and draw from the children’s thirst for knowledge and interests to develop a teaching plan.

For example, when class reconvenes after the holidays, children might have a classroom conversation about where they went and how they went there by train, by bus, or by plane. From this classroom interaction, the teacher can then draw the topic of transportation and work with the children on this project in many different ways.

The child drives the educational experience

It starts with a mind map that takes into account all the questions the children have about certain topics such as where do planes go? How do they fly? Why can’t they go to the moon? The flexibility of the teacher following the children’s inquisitiveness means that the process could take you anywhere, and in some cases to unexpected heights. It wasn’t until Micossi took me around campus, that I fully understood what this actually means in practice.

“This class, one question they had, was when they were doing airplanes one child says airplanes can do ‘1,2,3, blast off’, and then the other said, ‘No, planes don’t do that. Rockets do.’ And then they were looking at planes and rockets and why one of them blasts off. So they looked at the direction of the turbines,” Micossi tells me. “The teacher was in the teacher’s room doing research and we were all trying to figure it out too. If someone else was told to plan a lesson about propulsion and thrust for three-year-olds, they’d go ‘I quit’, but that’s exactly what it was.”

Learning Multiple Languages Makes Kids More Confident

Find out how learning a different language helps students outside the classroom and boosts confidence.

A hands-on attitude permeates all levels of House of Knowledge. Both Micossi and Danicek tell me how much they love going to class and speaking to the children, or greeting them and their parents in the mornings, eschewing the danger of becoming too removed from the classrooms in their management levels.

This dinosaur model even included an erupting volcano

“I’m really spending day by day at school. I like to be there. It’s not that I just started the business and then stepped out,” explains Danicek, adding: “Education has to be lived. You can’t stop being a student. This is what I enjoy most about my life and my duties at House of Knowledge, to be a child myself again, being in the classes, and working on projects with the children.”

Micossi expresses the same sentiment; despite her becoming principal she still spends every day in class with the children.

This post is paid by HoK

Photos: Uni You

In 2007, a man from Germany decided it was time to open a kindergarten in Beijing, House of Knowledge School (HoK) was born. When Farshad Danicek, founder of the international kindergarten, began this educational journey 10 years ago, he could not have known how far his relatively unconventional approach to education was going to take him.

IPC Curriculum at HoK

Find out how is HoK using the IPC curriculum to make learning fun

What started out as a budding kindergarten with 36 children in the former Liyuan Campus, has now, a decade later, expanded to include elementary years and moved on to two new campuses, one in Shunyi, the other near Chaoyang Park. Now, HoK is home to over 170 students.

The Victoria Campus near Chaoyang Park is home to 80 students

“Ten years ago, I had no idea how to be an entrepreneur. I became one by entering China. I’m not quite sure how the whole thing started, but more important to me was to stay in the field of education. The most crucial thing to me at that point was not only to create a place for children but to create a place for families,” says Danicek.

10 Years of Hands-On Experience
Nana has been at HoK since day one. Known around campus as one of the school’s founding teachers, Nana recounts well how it all began:

“A funny story was when I went with Farshad [Danicek] and three kids to the playground. One of the old neighbors said, ‘Oh, those are your kids,’ because in the beginning, I had only three students. But now we have so many kids. I am always excited to see House of Knowledge grow.”

Nana has been at HoK since the beginning and is known as a founding teacher

As we stroll down the memory lane, it becomes quite obvious how much the school has progressed. Initially, everyone had to get on board with each task, be it to paint walls or to spread the word about this new teaching concept that had come to Beijing.

Nana recalls dressing up like an office worker and going door-to-door in a German office building to distribute flyers. But even though the school has expanded and the staff increased, this hands-on spirit of getting involved in the task at hand is still very much present in the school culture, even today and on every level of the school’s management.

There is never a day when Danicek is not at school; and when he is, he doesn’t find himself shut away in a secluded office. He much rather prefers being among the students and parents.

Danicek loves to chat and check in with the students

“My biggest success is joining in their daily life, to see with your own eyes what’s actually going on. I’ve been asked very often if I plan on stepping down. But you know what, no. I love to go to school. For me, it’s not a job; it’s a calling.

“I got my first office after almost 10 years. Parents would wait in the piazza (reception area by the entrance) and then call me ‘Farshad, I’m in your office, where are you?’ It was a hilarious story saying ‘Guys, I finally have something other people have from the very first day.’ It’s quite unusual, sitting in the public library and emailing, using a public printer. It’s unusual, but this is… House of Knowledge.”

Bilingual Learning Approaches

Learning in dual or multiple languages especially in math has numerous benefits

Never Standing Still
Danicek counts being able to grow the school to cover elementary as one of his biggest successes. However, for the cheerful and optimistic German, standing still is never an option. There are new accreditations, cooperations, and expansions underway.

It’s not a surprise, considering one of the core values of HoK, according to Danicek, is the idea that learning never stops. “The most important thing in education is you do not leave school and are ready-made. You will explore and learn afterward. School is just one of the many steps.”

It’s a mantra he is not just trying to teach his students, but one he is intent on living himself.

“I still have a very strong vision of what I want to do, and what I think my students deserve. I’m working on that. And you have to combine that vision with patience. But that is my weakness, I’m not so patient. That’s what I have learned in the past years, to take small steps.”

An aerial shot of the Shunyi campus at the Quanfa Gardens

Celebrating the Great Success
Unsurprisingly, given his down-to-earth approach, Danicek hopes to toast the anniversary with friends and family. And he shares there certainly will be tears:

“But more importantly, we will celebrate not the last ten years, but the future path. I want to celebrate with my friends the upcoming ten years.”

This post is paid for by HoK

Photos: HoK & Uni You