Revolution in the classroom

Media Release
August 11, 2009

Revolution in the classroom

Picture this. A demolition company is poised to knock down an abandoned old wool scouring factory. But it’s not quite as simple as it looks: There’s been a break in, a laptop and a bulldozer have been stolen so the police have had to be called in. And then the demolition crew has stumbled across a plaque from the boiler meltdown in 1953 which has excited media interest, and they’ve also found rare bricks which they hope to sell and recycle. Meanwhile people in the neighbourhood are up in arms at all the disruption it’s going to cause.

It’s a far cry from the usual classroom roleplay, but this scenario is currently being played out in a Hamilton primary school over a five-week period, with children taking on the roles of all the different participants. “Room 18 is buzzing, really buzzing,” says Lynette Townsend, Year 5/6 classroom teacher at Hillcrest Normal School.

“For children as learners, the fictional world is a world of enormous possibilities,” says Dr Viv Aitken, a senior lecturer in the University of Waikato’s School of Education who’s spearheading the project at Hillcrest Normal School together with Townsend and a group of Waikato education students. “This approach, called Mantle of the Expert, allows them to be expert adults and experiment with decision-making without any real-world consequences.”

The scenario might be fictional, but the learning is all for real, says Dr Aitken. “The learning goes right across the curriculum – mapping, measuring and model-making draws on mathematical skills, then there are research skills and writing and reading tasks, such as diary entries, formal reports and newspaper articles.”

The children also have to weigh up ethical questions, consider the environmental and social outcomes, and think about the technology they could use. Dr Aitken says it’s a radically different approach to meaningful learning, but one that teachers tend to embrace with enthusiasm. “What’s so exciting is that a big lightbulb comes on when teachers encounter Mantle of the Expert, particularly those who’ve been teaching for a while.”

Mantle of the Expert was pioneered by famed drama educator Dorothy Heathcote in the UK during the 1980s. Since then it’s been adopted in hundreds of primary and secondary schools around the world, where it’s measurably improved learning outcomes. “There’s one school in the UK which has adopted the Mantle of the Expert system as its primary mode of teaching, and that school has gone on to achieve the highest commendation possible from the UK’s educational review body OFSTED,” says Dr Aitken.

Later this month, the University of Waikato is hosting a national conference on Mantle of the Expert, with expert practitioners from the UK and New Zealand. “Mantle of the Expert is just such a good fit for New Zealand,” says Dr Aitken, who’s organised the conference. “The new school curriculum asks teachers to find ways to make education relevant to children in their communities. And that’s just what this approach does.”

Weaving Our Stories: International Mantle of the Expert Conference will be held at the University of Waikato on 27-30 August. Visit www.mantleoftheexpert.co.nz for more details.

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