Learning in the “Labyrinth”: Dorothy Heathcote’s Transitions Project

Abstract

This article offers a retrospective analysis of a Mantle of the Expert project devised by Dorothy Heathcote in 2007 to address the transitions from primary to secondary school. Drawing on planning transcripts and archival materials, it shows how the project reframes transitions, not as preparation for a single institutional change, but as entry into a condition of strangeness characterised by uncertainty, complexity and shifting relationships. While initially focused on school transfer, the project developed into an inquiry into transitions as multidimensional and ongoing processes, anticipating and resonating with Multiple and Multidimensional Transitions (MMT) theory. Within the drama, pupils assumed the role of “Life Coaches,” supporting others through unfamiliar situations. This repositioned learning as response rather than self-reflection, where understanding emerges through attention to others, interpretation of situations, and the design of possible responses. The classroom functioned as a kind of laboratory, in which learning was investigated and tested in practice. The article argues that the project’s enduring value lies not in the acquisition of strategies but in a shift in orientation—a capacity to read and navigate complex environments while remaining attentive to others also undergoing transitions.