Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

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Assignment Draft Plan
Introduction (500 words)
· What is Mantle of the Expert?
o Heathcote, Abbot, Bolton
o dramatic play
o My experience of MoE
· Linking Vygotsky and MoE
o Teacher in Role as learning-leading development
o Vygotsky’s ZPD
Dramatic play (1750 words)
· Discussion of dramatic play
o dramatic play vs. other play
o theory of creativity – Vygotsky
o multiple worlds and funds of knowledge
· MoE as dramatic play
o fictional world
o ‘experts’ and ‘clients’
o MoE adult-guided dramatic play vs. child-initiated dramatic play
The Zone of Proximal Development (1750 words)
· ZPD discussion
o Vygotsky
o How the ZPD looks in modern schooling
o ZPD as collaborative learning, assessment, or potential?
o “more capable” adult or peer?
The Zone of Proximal Development in Mantle of the Expert (1500 words)
· Teacher in role
o inside intervention – discuss
· Children as experts – taking on a role above their current development
· Class of 25 = multiple and varied zones of proximal development – can all ZPD’s be catered for?
Conclusion (500 words)
Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

Introduction
Taylor (2016, pg.13) describes Mantle of the Expert as “an educational approach that uses drama and inquiry to create imaginary contexts for learning.” Teachers work with their pupils to create fictional settings in which the curriculum can be studied through the resolution of a ‘problem’. Mantle of the Expert was created in the 1970s by Dorothy Heathcote, a drama teacher and academic. Heathcote saw Mantle of the Expert, and in particular drama, as a vehicle for children to develop the academic concepts, skills and attitudes in a more stimulating way compared to the more prevalent transmission model of schooling and teaching (Davis 2016, pg.15).

Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

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I first saw Mantle of the Expert (MoE) in use as a learning tool in 2016, during my Key Stage 1 QTS placement in an infant school in Doncaster. The class teacher had been on several MoE training events and with the head teacher’s agreement was trialling MoE in class. I immediately saw the change the ‘Mantle’ created in the children. They were engaged, excited, and invested in the hook or problem set before them. It is now a year later and I have my own class of Reception children in the same school. MoE has become an established part of our daily teaching and is used as a cross-curricular vehicle throughout the school. I am now witnessing first-hand the process of creating the ‘Mantle’, being part of the collaborative inquiry, and most importantly, basking in the progress and enjoyment my children are gaining from MoE. Christie states that dramatic play “reaches its peak between the ages of 4 and 6” when children have developed the ability to “adopt roles and use make-believe transformations” (1990, pg.542). If taken to be true I am in a prime location, as Reception teacher, to witness MoE at its most effective.
When I first began my reading into the theory behind MoE, I immediately thought of Vygotsky and his Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). As an Early Years specialist, I have previously done a lot of reading around Sustained Shared Thinking (Siraj-Blatchford et al., 2003) and how this can be linked to Vygotsky’s idea of collaborative learning. MoE seemed to me to be the perfect example of creating a collaborative environment in which children learn from and extend each other’s knowledge.
What is important to note about the Mantle of the Expert approach is that it has been founded, honed and endorsed predominantly by drama theorists (Heathcote, Bolton, Wagner). Following my study of Vygotsky, I found that he too was a lover of theatre and the creative arts, spending part of his career as a theatre critic and literature teacher. Whilst many of
Dramatic Play
Hughes (2002) acknowledges that there are around 16 different types of play, including role-play, communicative play, rough-and-tumble play, and fantasy play to name a few. When reading for this assignment I found it hard to separate many of the different types of play in regards to ‘dramatic play’.

For the purposes of this assignment, the term ‘dramatic play’ will refer to all types of play in which the player takes on a role that requires an imaginative transformation of self and/or environment. As such, I will include make-believe play, role-play, and imaginative play under the same umbrella.
The Zone of Proximal Development
The Zone of Proximal Development or ZPD, is a widely and hotly discussed theoretical concept in the fields of education, psychology, and child development. Lev Vygotsky, a Soviet teacher and psychologist, first mentioned ZPD in his book Thought and Language (1962) then later builds

ZPD in modern schooling

Dramatic play in the form of Mantle of the Expert as an example of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development.

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By admin in Essays on April 6, 2017