What is MoE?

Mantle of the Expert approaches learning and teaching through 'dramatic-inquiry'. It is a form of process drama that uses drama as a learning medium. The aim is to achieve learning outcomes and objectives in an integrated way, stimulating and valorising student ownership, intrinsic motivation and an inquiry-based attitude.

In the 1980s, Dorothy Heathcote MBE (1926-2011) developed the approach during her work at Newcastle University in the UK. The basic idea of MoE is that students are engaged in their school curriculum as if they were a group of experts: they can be scientists in a laboratory, archaeologists excavating a tomb, a rescue team during a natural disaster... Together with the teacher they create an imaginary world in which they are cast as a team of experts working for a (fictitious) client who gives them a commission or assignment. All kinds of learning activities can be linked to that commission.

Bob Selderslaghs did doctoral research into what the method can contribute to art educational settings. He developed the MoE 2.0 methodology, which allows for a healthy balance between the artistic process and product in art education. In this way MoE can be used not only as a learning medium, but also as a learning objective. You can read more about this on the research page.