Implementing Mantle of the Expert

Luke Abbott and Iona Towler-Evans

95^+VATHTML on CD-ROMOct 08978 1 84070 810 3

• Engaging and innovative
• Effective with all abilities
• Ideal for children with SEN

An exciting approach

Mantle of the Expert (MoE) is an innovative teaching and learning system where children and young people take on the role of experts in a given field, managing a project and making decisions themselves. The system has its roots in drama work, but has been extended into a complete cross-curricular scheme. MoE creates meaningful, purposeful and deeply engaging contexts for learning for children of all ages, and is already producing impressive results in many schools across the country.

Make it work for you

Implementing Mantle of the Expert contains everything you need to reap the benefits of MoE in your school, including:

• getting started
• case studies, showing how other schools have approached the system
• managing the process with staff
• benefits of using MoE
• the effect of MoE on achievement and attainment.

The resource includes clear guidance, ready-to-use forms and teaching materials, alongside the first-hand accounts from teachers who are already using MoE.

Whole school resources

For school leaders, there are tools for sharing the unique opportunities for transforming learning with teaching staff, in order to raise standards overall. Management issues and frameworks for school and teacher development are also covered.

Full guidance for teachers

For teachers, the different approaches to MoE work are outlined in clear stages – with numerous examples involving children and young people aged from 3 to 19.

Materials include:

• the principles of MoE
• understanding contexts for learning, using the National Curriculum as a backdrop
• planning tools
• how to include drama strategies and the importance of dramatic tension
• linking the tasks set to the curriculum
• understanding conventions of dramatic action
• brushing up on questioning skills
• thinking on your feet.

A range of topics

In MoE, children and young people run an ‘enterprise’, which could be, for example, a manufacturing company, an advisory board or a research group. They are then ‘commissioned by a client’ to carry out a project and through this, address the curriculum. Examples of enterprises discussed in Implementing Mantle of the Expert include:

• Early Years – A bee-keeping farm; deep-sea divers.
• Reception – A home for dogs.
• Key Stage 1 – Story-seekers who discover lost stories of the past; a lorry transport firm.
• Key Stage 2 – Marine rescuers; Tudor Times Ltd.
• Key Stage 3 – A computer design company; an arts consultancy which selects and auditions actors for a production of The Tempest.
• Key Stage 4 – A firm of investigators unearthing an alleged murder on an island in a case known as ‘Lord of the Flies’.

Supporting materials include:

• artefacts – visual and class documents
• examples of the main strategies for implementing MoE – questioning and task setting
• frequently asked questions
• guidance on getting started with MoE
• reference sites and contacts with other users of the system.

All the materials are provided on CD-ROM in convenient formats, and come with a licence to copy within the purchasing institution.