C.3 Application in Education Features and Principles of Portfolio Assessment 1.

A portfolio is a form of assessment that students do together with their teachers.

2. A portfolio represents a selection of what the students believe are best included
from among the possible collection of things related to the concept being studied.
3. A portfolio provides samples of the student’s work which show growth over
time. 4. The criteria for selecting and assessing the portfolio contents must be
clear to the teacher and the students at the outset of the process. Purposes of
Portfolio Assessment 1. Portfolio assessment matches assessment to teaching.
Best Practice for portfolios in E! teacher training
1. Portfolio assessment as an influencer of pedagogy and an indicator of skill development
- As proven by research, the biggest value of portfolio assessment is in its impact on
teaching practice - teachers dedicate more time and attention towards developing
practical skills in their lesson planning, during class and in assessment (see for example
IBE-UNESCO, 2017; Stecher & Herman, 1997).
2. Create rewards and acknowledgement for portfolio assessment - For countries where
portfolio assessment is part of the final student grade, implementation is more
consistent.
3. Acknowledge that portfolio assessment requires time & resources - Teachers will use
more time to plan and run practical lessons and to review portfolio activities for all
learners. Stecher and Herman (1997) look at this positively since it indicates a shift of
priorities towards practical teaching. However, it is also an often cited challenge
especially in low-resource contexts.
4. Portfolio assessment can be made simple - Portfolio assessment requires teachers to
understand learner-centred pedagogy and how skills can be developed and assessed
practically. However, in different contexts several strategies have been used to support
teachers in this practice.
5. Making it a movement, enforced and supported by school leadership - Training time is
often limited and pressure within a school environment is high to teach to the test.
Therefore, besides training, teacher programs should try to influence the school
systems to be supportive of skills based education.