The purpose of this essay is to find out if there is a general understanding of what the concept of ”a competent child” is in the writings of Maria Montessori, as well as in books written about Loris Malaguzzi. The essay then compares this with the answers from pre-school teachers in two Montessori and two Reggio Emilia pre-schools about their understanding of what a competent child is, how that shows in their behaviours and attitudes towards the children and in how they use this to arrange the pre-school physical environment. The essay also takes a look at how the teachers work with documentation, how they perceive their chosen pedagogy helps them in their work with the pre-school curriculum and with the requirement that the pre-school teachings should be grounded in the scientific method, and also explores what does the teachers think about their role as a teacher.

The essay then tries to analyse why Reggio Emilia has grown to be the predominant pedagogy   in the Swedish pre-schools and why Montessori has not. The investigation is based on qualitative interviews as well as observations made by the author. The study is based on Vygotskijs socio-cultural theory, which could be summarised that we all learn in social relations.

The conclusion of the study is that there is a general understanding about the competent child in the books written by Maria Montessori and Loris Malaguzzi, as well as in the teacher’s answers to interview questions and in their acting in teaching situations.

The study could see some differences in the design of the physical environments, theteachers’ views of their roles in their answers about the curriculum and that the pre-school should be based on the scientific method. These answers combined with the authors’ observations, the literature used for reference and the socio-cultural theory written by Vygotskij brings the author to the conclusion that Reggio Emilia could be seen as modern version of Montessori. Reggio Emilia is more up to date with a modern take on the role of teachers in advancing children’s learning and development, and the pedagogy also has the socio-cultural theory as a base for understanding how both adults and children learn. The Reggio Emilia pre-schools visited by the author also work with aesthetic expressions in a way that the pre- schools based in the Montessori pree-schools don´t. Reggio Emilia also ”gave” the Swedish pree-schools a tool for seeing the children, the teacher´s and the pree-school itself. It gave us pedagogic documentation.