Mantle of the Expert

Heathcote D, Bolton G, (1996) states that the Mantle of the expert is: "An active urgent , purposeful view of learning, in which knowledge is to be operated on, not merely taken in." A system highly dependent upon the active imagination, to imagine oneself in a situation. e.g. role play etc.

 

Similar to the Leonardo Effect, the mantle of the expert also encourages children to be creative and aims to take away boundaries so children of all different ability levels can contribute in just as much an equal way, and in their own way.

Taylor, A. (2006) states the mantle of the expert is: "The development of a community of inquiry, the acquisition and application of new skills, the frame of role-play, cross-curricular experiences and activities based on relevant problems, which are perceived as ‘real’ by the community."

The deputy headmaster Gay Gilbert and senior teacher Lynette Townsend in this video describe their experience with the mantle of the expert as a different dramatic approach to inquiry learning. They explain how this approach has positively affected the children in their classes by granting them with confidence to express themselves and also belief that their views are vitally important. The children have "stepped up into an imaginary world" where they are experts and in control. This encourages children to engage in the activity; which in-turn encourages and excited teachers too. When approaching teaching through this method they looked at the different interests of the children. This made it current and relevant, and fun for the children to participate in.

We tried this approach within an Educational Studies seminar. Following a similar process that Gay Gilbert and Lynette Townsend describe in this video. So to start off we were presented with a situation which was that our local council had to build a bridge over a choice of 4 different waters, to join parts of the city. So as they describe in the video we stepped into an imaginary world. We all formed groups within the class, which became the different competing bridge building contractors. Each group then thought up of a company name and the different roles of every group member; as well as the layout, history (date formed etc), ethos, strap line, and past history of builds, etc, for the company.

This was our Design and Company name, etc.

After finishing the design process we had an interview with the local council explaining how we were going to make this bridge for them and a proposed bridge type; which had to be thought about as to the dimensions of the bridge and what the bridge would be used for (this varied by what option.. 1,2,3 or 4 we decided on).

Once the planning process for the bridge was finished we had to go and build a prototype ready to present with our design plan to the local council in competition with all the other groups (competing building contractors), and for the local council to decide which bridge design they would take on and agree to build. This was our built prototype:

Our Prototype

This task was great and had us thinking as experts and within role as responsible adults part of working life. This encouraged; through receiving attempting this task, to develop our problem solving and encouraged us to become much more creative and innovative thinkers.

The skills children gain from participating in an activity like this would transform them as a person, to make them believe in themselves that they are capable, and that age and ability don't have to be a limitation within any learning process. For example, an activity like this would be perfectly capable for a primary school junior group to undertake, But, if out of the blue they were asked to make a real company like this in the real world they may believe they weren't capable. But the mantle of the expert changes this and brings belief to children that they can succeed!

Reference List:

Heathcote, D. and Bolton, G. (1996) Drama for learning: Dorothy Heathcote’s Mantle of the Expert Approach to Education. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Taylor, A. (2006). A Critical Evaluation of ‘‘Mantle of the Expert’’ as a Teaching and Learning Approach, Based on Pupil and Practitioner Opinion. Available: http://www.mantleoftheexpert.com/community/research/. Last accessed 18/04/2014.

Video - Gilbert G, Townsend L. (2011). Mantle of the Expert . Available: http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Media-gallery/Effective-pedagogy/Mantle-of-the-expert. Last accessed 18/04/2014