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British drama educator Dorothy Heathcote, best known for her enquiry-based process drama, Mantle of the Expert, has died aged 85.
Born in 1926, Heathcote became internationally recognised for her unconventional methods of teaching drama, influencing change in teaching practice in this field. She taught at Newcastle University for 36 years.
Heathcote was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in June this year. She will be remembered as one of the pioneers of process drama and an inspirational educator.
Today I found out that Dorothy Heathcote died last year. I attended a weeklong workshop when she was visiting Australia in the early 1970’s . Her influence changed my life as a teacher and later I used her methods in my role as a religious educator working with other teachers in both city and rural schools.
She invited me to visit her if I ever came to England and 30 years later I arrived on her doorstep to thank her. We shared our stories and then she packed me a lunch for the next stage of my journey . I was deeply touched and corresponded with her until she could no longer keep in touch. I would like to contact her daughter.
What a inspiration. Dorothy Heathcote has made a wonderful impact on Drama everywhere. I hope we at Drama Exercises
can impact lives as she has.
What a loss to eduction. The workshop I did in New zealand was life changing in my approach to teaching drama. She was an exceptional woman and hopefully we can all continue the valuable lessons she taught, and honour the childs journey. The world is a sadder place without her.
Even when I only knew of Dorothy Heathcote through print, I found her to be an inspirational educator. From the first moment I read about how she worked with students in dramatic ways, I thought “I can do this, too!” In actuality, Heathcote was an original–unrepeatable, but definitely worth imitating and adapting. I got to meet her and have my photo taken with her back in 2006–a thrill for me–and I will always credit her with the impetus that resulted in my career.