The Different Voices of the Teacher in Mantle of the Expert: Developing Community and Student agency

The Different Voices of the Teacher in Mantle of the Expert: Developing Community and Student agency

Tim Taylor

https://doi.org/10.64741/202587yfkcra

This article is a review of the workshop conducted at the Heathcote Now Conference, November 2024, led by Tim Taylor, alongside Richard Kieran and Lisa Hinton from Woodrow First School, Redditch. The content of the workshop was originally taught across Woodrow First School in the summer of 2024.

Introduction

The role of the teacher in Mantle of the Expert is both complex and dynamic, requiring a balance between structure and creativity, guidance and autonomy. One of the key ways in which teachers navigate this balance is through the use of three distinct voices: teacher as facilitator, teacher as narrator, and teacher in role. Each of these voices serves a different function, shaping the learning experience, engaging students in the co-creation of the fiction, and ensuring that the dramatic context remains meaningful.

This article explores how these three voices operate within a Mantle of the Expert context, drawing on a workshop conducted at the Heathcote Now Conference (November 2024). It examines the interplay between these voices, the use of inductive language, and the pedagogical tension inherent in balancing student agency with the structured framework of the fiction. Through an analysis of key moments in the workshop, the article demonstrates how effective use of the teacher’s voice can foster student engagement, critical thinking, and a sense of shared responsibility within the fictional world.

Let us look at the context used in the workshop.

Setting up the context

The workshop was taught over two sessions: one in the morning, the second in the afternoon, with a group of ten participants: teachers, academics, and students. The space used was a drama theatre. There was a short introduction without a warmup or lead into the project. The idea was to introduce the participants to the work as if they were students in a classroom. The teaching was originally part of a longer project taught to children in Year 3 at Woodrow First School.

The teacher starts,

What comes to mind if you saw a sign saying, ‘Community History Team’? Imagine it on the door of an office: what kind of building is it? If you went inside, what might the furniture be like? What do you see on the walls?

Suppose there is a workboard with an array of different projects and notices: what do you imagine they might be? What do you suppose is the business of a company with this name? What are their priorities: their values and beliefs?

Next the teacher writes on the board:

Meeting at 10:00 – representatives of the town council to discuss the ‘pop-up museum’ project.

Imagine for a moment,

he says,

that we are the History Team, and we are preparing for this meeting. What would we want to know in advance?

A discussion follows in which the teacher answers the students’ questions as a member of the team. For example:

I don’t know much. I spoke to them briefly this morning, and they said they wanted to discuss the idea of a museum on the high street that celebrates local history but doesn’t look or feel like a traditional museum. I’m not sure what that means.

They want to involve local people in the creation of the museum: record their voices and collect artefacts from the town’s history, such as photographs, letters, and other memorabilia.

At this stage, I think they just want to discuss the idea and get our views: that is, do we think it’s an idea that will work?

Once the discussion is over, the teacher narrates,

It was shortly after ten when the two representatives of the town council arrived. Each of them carried a manila folder containing information about the project.

[The two adults who will be representing the town councillors stand up, ready to step into the fiction.]

The teacher continues, addressing the students,

You will need to have a pen and paper ready to take notes. There is quite a lot of information coming your way.

He asks,

How should we welcome our guests? How do we want the room arranged?

A discussion follows in which the team agrees to sit in a circle, with two chairs placed together near the whiteboard for the councillors. One of the team volunteers to greet them and invite them to sit.

The two adults representing the councillors come into the fiction: the volunteer greets them and shows them to their chairs.

The teacher in role says,

Good morning, and welcome to our office. We are very much looking forward to discussing your project and hearing what you have in mind.

The councillors start to speak.

The Three Voices

Let us pause the workshop here and reflect on what has happened so far: in particular, how the teacher has used the three ‘voices’ to set up the context: first, to co-create the fiction; then, to establish the Mantle of the Expert frame; and finally, to move the group into a dramatic moment.

The three voices are pedagogical tools the teacher uses to guide and shape the session, moving between the real and fictional worlds, supporting the students and moving the group into moments of dramatic action.

Each ‘voice’ has its own purpose:

• Teacher as Facilitator ensures the practical and structural elements of the session run smoothly. This voice organises discussions, invites contributions, and encourages students to reflect critically on their choices. For example, when the teacher asks, ‘How should we welcome our guests? How do we want the room arranged?’ they are facilitating the group’s decision-making process, empowering students to take ownership of the unfolding drama.

• Teacher as Narrator helps to build and sustain the fiction. This voice provides essential exposition, setting the scene and maintaining the dramatic tension. We hear this when the teacher says, ‘It was shortly after ten when the two representatives of the town council arrived. Each of them carried a manila folder containing information about the project.’ Through narration, the teacher bridges the gap between the real-world classroom and the imagined world of the fiction.

• Teacher in Role is the most immersive of the three voices, allowing the teacher to step directly into the drama alongside the students. By adopting a role, such as a member of the Community History Team, the teacher models engagement with the fiction, responding authentically to students’ questions and shaping the dramatic context through interaction. For instance, when the teacher, in role, says, ‘We are very much looking forward to discussing your project and hearing what you have in mind,’ they reinforce the authenticity of the moment and invite the students to engage as experts within the Mantle of the Expert framework.

Each of these voices works together to guide the group, balancing structure with creative freedom and ensuring that the fiction remains both meaningful and dynamic.

While each of these voices plays a crucial role in guiding the session, the way the teacher speaks, particularly in setting up the fiction, also has a significant impact. This is where Heathcote’s concept of inductive language becomes essential, shaping how students enter and engage with the fictional world without feeling coerced.

Inductive Language

Inductive language was the term used by Dorothy Heathcote to describe her technique of bringing students into a fiction without it feeling like an imposition. What she was eager to avoid was the teacher using her power to tell the students what to do. For her, working together and developing student agency was far more important.

Compare these two approaches for starting the fiction:

1. What I want you to do is to pretend you work for a museum company called the ‘Community History Team’.

1. Imagine a company called the ‘Community History Team’. If we were part of that company, what do you suppose would be important to us?

The first approach, Heathcote would describe as didactic, meaning that the teacher is directly instructing the students on how to engage with the fiction, positioning them as passive recipients of the scenario rather than active participants. This method establishes clear expectations but offers little room for student ownership or exploration.

In contrast, the second approach aligns with Heathcote’s concept of inductive language. By inviting students to imagine and question, rather than directing them outright, the teacher creates space for co-construction of meaning. This subtle shift encourages agency, allowing students to shape their own understanding of the fictional context while fostering a sense of investment in the process.

For Heathcote, the language we use is critical. Every sentence, every instruction, every invitation has to be tested against the degree of agency it offers to students, the level of engagement it fosters, and the extent to which it invites them into the shared fiction as active participants rather than passive followers.

By framing the invitation as a question:

What do you suppose would be important to us?

the teacher is immediately opening up the creation of the imaginary world as a collaborative activity, giving students the opportunity to work together to build the context and contribute their own ideas. This is not something being ‘done to them’ but rather something we are doing together.

The use of we is crucial. For Heathcote, Mantle of the Expert is about building community through the development of social bonds. Independence, self-expression, and student autonomy are all important values, but they exist within a larger moral obligation to the responsibilities we have to one another – to collaborate, contribute, and support the collective endeavour – and to wider society.

Bringing children in from the edge is always a challenge, whether they are reluctant to join in, or find the demands of drama difficult. There is also the issue of unsocial behaviour, which can be disruptive or, on occasion, derail the work entirely if not handled with care. The key is to respond in ways that preserve the atmosphere of collaboration without alienating anyone.

These challenges are familiar to the teachers and support staff at Woodrow. The answer lies in respectful and patient support. In drama, there is always the option of stopping the story temporarily to speak directly to the students, explaining why certain behaviours are unhelpful and offering clear, constructive choices for re-engagement. Often, children enjoy being part of an unfolding narrative, especially when it carries enough tension and meaning. But there are times when some may need to pause or step back for a while.

In short, none of the usual strategies for behaviour management are off-limits. What matters is how they are applied within the story world, where students are cast as a team of experts. That role brings with it certain expectations, and a shared responsibility for maintaining respectful conduct.

The metaphor of the ‘mantle’ of the expert represents both the power and responsibility that experts carry as a consequence of their role. Experts have agency and the power to act, but not without accountability—they must exercise their knowledge and skills ethically, consider the impact of their decisions, and recognise their duty to others.

Without this responsibility, there would be no boundaries to what the students might do within the fiction. This might feel liberating at first but would soon lose its purpose or meaning. Responsibility implies a moral framework that both guides and limits our actions, making us accountable for the decisions we make. Without this framework, the actions of the team would lack purpose, meaning, or value.

Inductive language, then, is not about giving students free rein to take the fiction in any direction they choose. Rather, it is an invitation to make choices and decide on directions that best serve the values and purposes of the team they have chosen to represent. The context, the function of the team, the role of the client, the direction of the commission, is something decided in advance by the teacher, who is concerned with the teaching of the curriculum and the development of the students’ learning. The students’ agency is limited by these boundaries, as well as the responsibilities of the team inside the fictional world.

For this reason, at every step, the teacher asks themselves,

How can I involve the students in the co-creation of this fiction while maintaining its internal coherence and the moral standpoint of the expert team?

This is the pedagogical tension of teaching using Mantle of the Expert.

Pedagogical Tension

Let’s look at a further example from the workshop.

Next the teacher writes on the board: ‘Meeting at 10:00 – representatives of the town council to discuss the “pop-up museum” project.’

Notice how the details of the meeting, when it’s happening, what time, who’s involved, and its subject, are all decided in advance by the teacher. These are called the givens.

The givens are not negotiated with the students but are introduced through a storytelling technique – sometimes using the narrator voice, but in this instance, as an artefact from the story world, created by the teacher in front of the students.

The next thing the teacher says opens the moment up to the students’ input:

‘Imagine for a moment,’ he says, ‘that we are the History Team and we are preparing for this meeting. What would we want to know in advance?’

There are three things to notice here. The first is the use of inductive language through the voice of the teacher-facilitator. The students are invited to step into the fiction as the expert team. This is the first time the teacher has asked them to do so, as up until now, they have been outside the fiction, considering the team: their office, their furniture, their values and beliefs, without directly stepping into their shoes.

The second is the way the teacher attempts to reduce the anxiety the students might feel about being asked to come into the fiction and taking on the role of the team. For many people drama can feel dangerous, especially if they don’t know the person leading the session. Helping to reduce this anxiety and put people at their ease is essential. Heathcote called this, ‘protecting people into the drama.’ One way of doing this is by using ‘low-risk’ language: words that imply this is not going to be difficult nor threatening, such as ‘Imagine for a moment,’ ‘What do you suppose?’ and ‘Could you imagine…?’

The third is the setting of a task for the team inside the fiction in preparation for the meeting. Up until now, the students have been discussing the team from the outside, speculating on what might be important to them and what their working environment might be like. With this step, the teacher shifts them into the story by asking them to think as the team would think about the upcoming meeting.

This step is a crucial turning point in these early stages, as from this moment on, the students understand their role, and the teacher can now guide them both inside and outside the fiction.

The teacher is taking a risk here, as he is opening up the context to the students’ own ideas and suggestions. He cannot predict what they will say, but he trusts that the setup of the context and their own background knowledge will be enough for them to tackle the task successfully.

The aim is for the teacher to answer the students’ questions from inside the fiction using the teacher-in-role voice:

I don’t know much. I spoke to them briefly this morning…

but if they need help, he can pause the story for a moment and provide extra support using the teacher-facilitator voice.

For example, he might say, 

Ah, I can see why you might ask that. These people are from the local council: that’s the government for the town. Their job is to ensure the town runs smoothly: the bins are emptied, the potholes are filled, and community events are organised, like the one they are coming to talk about this morning.

The pedagogical tension is the narrow pathway the teacher is attempting to tread between setting up a context that he has planned in advance while providing enough opportunity for the students to feel their voices are heard and they are playing a significant role in the co-creation of the context.

Step too far one way and the students will feel this is a mere pretence and their views don’t really matter. Step too far the other, and the context may fall apart, becoming incoherent due to the students’ lack of knowledge or understanding of what is happening.

Student agency, then, in this approach, is not a licence to go wherever they choose, but a careful balance between freedom and structure: allowing students to make meaningful choices within the boundaries of the established context, while ensuring coherence, purpose, and curriculum learning.

Developing the context

Let us return to the workshop.

The meeting between the History Team and the town councillors continues. The councillors explain that they need help and advice in setting up what they call a ‘pop-up museum’ inside a disused shop on the high street. They’ve noticed that the people of the town rarely visit the existing museum in the town square, and they suspect this is because its classical-style architecture feels off-putting and uninviting.

They hope the ‘pop-up museum’ will be more accessible and welcoming: somewhere that encourages local people to engage with their own history in a space that feels informal and inclusive. They want the History Team’s input on how best to design the exhibition, what stories to feature, and how to involve the community in contributing artefacts and personal histories.

A conversation follows where the History Team ask questions and take notes.

The councillors provide further information and inform the History Team that they would like the ‘pop-up museum’ to include an exhibit about the life and work of a nineteenth-century businessman and philanthropist named Henry Milward.

Milward, they explain, set up a factory in the town for the manufacture of needles, and the business became so successful that its needles were exported worldwide, making the town famous for their production.

The councillors take out information about Milward and the history of needle making from their manila folders, along with a photograph of Milward. They share these with the History Team, who spend some time examining the materials and asking the councillors further questions.

The meeting comes to an end and the councillors leave.

This is the end of the first part of the workshop. It continued after lunch.

The teacher in role asks,

Well, that is quite a lot to be getting on with. Where should we start?

A conversation follows where the team discuss the commission, sharing initial ideas about the ‘pop-up museum’ and how it might work. The teacher in role makes a list on the noticeboard.

He pins the photograph of Henry Milward to the board beside his notes.

‘What,’ he asks, ‘do you make of this?’

A conversation follows in which the team discusses the picture: Henry’s clothing, his expression, and the props, such as the gloves and a top hat.

Next, the teacher, in role, reads out a document from the manila folder: it is the obituary of Henry Milward, written in 1878.

DEATH OF HENRY MILWARD, ESQ., J. P.

On Thursday evening passed away the spirit of a good man who will be mourned by the poor of Redditch, and his memory revered by all classes, and that far beyond the town and its environs.  Mr. Milward’s time – his time of work, and he was an energetic worker – dates back to the very young days of Redditch, he might claim to be one of the layers of its foundations; and he lived to see it increase about four-fold.  And most earnestly did he, from the first, endeavour to make it grow better as it grew larger: throwing himself with ardour into religious, moral, and social movements, and labouring constantly in public and in private for the good of the people. 

There is a further discussion.

The teacher says,

Let’s pause the story there for a moment and consider what kind of man Henry Milward was and how he might be portrayed in the museum.

Let’s start with his desk.

The teacher stands up and walks around a space that might contain a desk.

What kind of desk do you suppose a man like Henry Milward would have in his office at the factory?

Notice the shift between different voices, from teacher in role to teacher as facilitator, as well as the use of inclusive language (let’s, meaning let us) and a question that invites students to participate in the creation of the fiction.

Notice also that the teacher has shifted the inquiry into a different space and time: away from the office of the History Team in the present day and into Henry’s office at the factory 150 years earlier.

This provides the students with a new perspective, encouraging them to imagine the physical environment, atmosphere, and working conditions of the past. By stepping into this historical setting, they can consider not only the objects that might have been present but also what those objects reveal about Henry Milward’s status, character, and values.

The teacher-facilitator continues,

What about his chair? What kind of chair do you suppose Henry would have? What do you think it would say about him and how he wants others to see him?

There is a further discussion.

One of the students suggests that Henry has someone to clean his office in the morning before he arrives at work.

The teacher asks the group what other jobs this person might perform for Henry.

The teacher asks everyone to stand and to get into groups of two or three. He says,

Let’s see how Henry is at these times, when his servant… is that the right word? Is attending to him in different ways.

They might be helping him put on his coat and handing him his hat and gloves. They might be adjusting his chair before he sits, bringing him tea, or laying out documents on his desk for the day’s work. Perhaps they wait nearby, ready to respond to his requests, or they discreetly step away, knowing when not to be seen.

Take a moment in your groups to explore these moments. How does Henry acknowledge his servant’s presence? Does he speak to them directly, or does he take their work for granted? What might this tell us about him as a person?

The groups break off and begin discussing how they will depict these moments. After a while, they start taking on roles, enacting the movements and actions of the people involved. There is a lot of talking and moving, along with some laughter as the students begin to enjoy the activity.

Once again, the teacher is taking a risk, giving the students the freedom to explore these possible events in their own ways. He watches and offers support where needed, but the agency is largely with the students to shape the interactions, interpret the relationships, and bring the historical context to life through their own creative choices.

The context sets boundaries on what the students can do: limiting them to some extent but also providing a structure that allows them to be imaginative and purposeful in a way that feels both authentic and meaningful.

Conclusion

The use of the three voices in Mantle of the Expert is not just a pedagogical technique but a fundamental approach to building community, fostering student agency, and sustaining dramatic inquiry. The ability to shift fluidly between facilitation, narration, and in-role engagement allows the teacher to guide students without imposing authority, ensuring that they feel both empowered and supported within the fiction.

Dorothy Heathcote’s emphasis on inductive language highlights the importance of how teachers invite students into the fictional world. Rather than dictating actions, the teacher frames the experience as an open-ended exploration, encouraging students to question, imagine, and construct meaning together.

Ultimately, the success of this approach relies on the teacher’s ability to navigate the pedagogical tension between maintaining coherence and allowing student agency. By carefully setting boundaries while fostering creativity, teachers create an environment where students can take ownership of their learning, engage critically with historical and social contexts, and experience the responsibility that comes with expert roles.

Mantle of the Expert structures student agency within a defined framework of responsibility and curricular objectives. Rather than offering unrestricted freedom, it provides structured opportunities for decision-making, problem-solving, and collaboration. The fictional context assigns students purposeful roles that require them to engage with real-world responsibilities, encouraging critical thinking and inquiry while working within given parameters.

This balance between agency and structure is central to the approach. While students make choices and take on responsibilities within the fiction, the teacher ensures that these experiences align with the curriculum. The framework guides students toward key learning objectives while allowing them flexibility in how they explore and apply knowledge. Their role within the expert team requires them to navigate expectations, manage tasks, and contribute meaningfully, creating a sense of autonomy within a structured environment.

By embedding student agency within a framework of responsibility, Mantle of the Expert provides opportunities for students to engage actively in learning while remaining accountable for their contributions. The structured nature of the approach ensures that students work within clear expectations, balancing creative exploration with the demands of the curriculum.

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