Post 2: Mantle of the Expert

Mantle of the expert is a drama based creative educational approach that can be used for almost any subject area within primary and secondary classrooms. It is a child centred approach which allows pupils freedom of exploration. Children take on the role of an experienced professional of some kind and have to fulfill tasks for an imaginary client. (Sayers, 2011) The examples in the Dore to Learning video included in this post show children taking on the role of Egyptologists who have been asked to find out about items that belong to a man who lives in the local community. The teacher then brings in further dilemmas as the role play becomes more developed and the children have to come to their own solutions.


The Discovering Voice video shows mantle of the expert being used in a classroom with older pupils and concerns a more complex subject area. This video shows in detail the stages involved in the successful use of this approach with the teacher providing a reflective narrative. In this video Jeffery Wilhelm says that during role play children never present themselves as being less intelligent, less powerful or less informed about a topic meaning that they are stretching their abilities in line with Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development but in a natural and organic way. I feel that this video really shows how mantle can initiate high quality discussion between pupils allowing them to explore complicated concepts.


While using mantle it looks as though through taking on the role of an expert removes some insecurities that young people may feel when discussing a complex or difficult subject area and show more confidence in their debates and exploration of new ideas. When expressing ones opinions there is a risk that they will not be accepted, they may be ridiculed or they may be received as unintelligent; fears which are more justified within a classroom where children are often unreserved in expressing their opinion of each others views. When expressing thoughts and opinions under the guise of a character some of this fear is removed or reduced making the pupil feel less vulnerable leading to greater participation which in turn leads to a higher quality learning experience.

During the seminar we participated in our own mantle of the expert. In groups of four we took on the role of a bridge building company who were trying to secure a building contract from Swansea council. The group consisted of me, Emma, Rachel and Nadia. We began by assigning specific roles within our fictional company. These roles were assigned based on our existing skills and experience. Nadia is very artistic so she was the architect/designer, I work in a bank so, I was finance director, Emma likes to work practically and be hands on so she took on the role of structural engineer and Rachel was the big boss and became our Project Manager. We had to think carefully about our business; how and when we began, what our values and ethos were, previous projects we had undertaken:

Bridging the Gap

“Making Connections”

Bridging the gap is a seventh generation construction company that began life in 1858 building tram lines for Blaenavon Colliery. The company has a passion for local improvement and worked on the Cardiff Bay regeneration project in the late nineties, Merthyr Tydfil town centre and Cwmbran town centre. Bridging the gap has also committed a lot of time and resources to humanitarian projects. In 1958 we helped re build a bridge in Vancouver Canada which had collapsed and in 1974 also sent a team to Ontario to help rebuild another bridge that had collapsed. Just after hurricane Katrina in 2005 the company sent out a construction team to New Orleans to assist with general repair and building work.

Presenting our company to Swansea council seemed very natural and adopting a character and imagining a boardroom environment came easily. Emma was deadly serious throughout the role play and this attitude was transferred to everyone else who stayed true to role. Brainstorming in a lot of detail was essential for us to be able to answer the councils’ questions without hesitation and contradiction between group members, I feel this was a particular strong point for us and we were able to be specific in our answers.

The second part of Mantle of the expert consisted of us building a model bridge to present to the council as an example of the work we would undertake should we be awarded the building contract. This session was more relaxed and gave us an excuse to act like kids a bit by taking advantage of the art resources and letting our imaginations run wild; there was a lot of excitement at this point. As a group we were also able to act as committee members and ask questions to other groups about their proposal, allowing us to experience this approach from both perspectives.

I found mantle of the expert to be a very positive experience. I was very happy with the quality of work the group produced and the methods were really enjoyable. It was a fun, rich learning experience and I feel like I gained an understanding of its value within education.