Teachers’ perspectives on the effectiveness of ‘Mantle of the Expert’ as a teaching strategy in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Abstract

This is a paper focusing on the effectiveness of Mantle of the Expert within the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be looking into the teachers’ perceptions of Mantle of the Expert, what teaching strategies are used to implement Mantle of the Expert and whether it addresses all seven areas of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. An interpretivist approach was implemented and semi-structured interviews and observations were used to collect the data from a single educational setting. Participants were obtained through purposive and convenience sampling, as they were required to be Early Years Foundation Stage teachers practicing Mantle of the Expert, although data was only obtained from the teachers who were available on the day of the research.

The findings show that teachers positively perceive Mantle of the Expert, where children develop academically and personally. However, Mantle of the Expert is not without its limitations, as it can be challenging to understand its concepts and to plan for.

Overall, it would be advised that more schools should undertake a Mantle of the Expert teaching approach. However, with limited research available it may be deemed as risky due its different ways of meeting the curriculum.