WHAT GOES INTO A PORTFOLIO AND WHY?

Cecilia Nihlen
Goteburg University, Sweden
Plenary session on 28 June,
At the Nordic-Baltic Seminar in Tallinn

The use of portfolios in educational settings has increased tremendously in many countries around the world during the last five years – from pre-school to upper secondary school and also university level. Teachers have recognized the portfolio as a powerful learning tool, which helps to develop the learners’ metacognitive skills. The new approaches to curriculum and instruction of the last decades have encouraged students to be active learners. New ways of assessing students’ performance have emerged and the portfolio has also become an important evaluation tool.

When designing a portfolio system it is important for the developer to ask the following questions: What is the purpose of the portfolio? What should the contents be? What should the portfolio look like – a binder, a folder, or could it be digital? How should it be organized? Who is the audience? Is it essential to determine who owns the portfolio, the student or the teacher, since it will determine the purpose and the contents.

Portfolios are thoughtful collections  of student work meant for active and long-term review. The teacher is initially responsible for introducing the structure of what to collect and why. The students must be actively involved when choosing the contents  and the teacher should discuss criteria for selection with individual students. For each entry the student must motivate his or her selection of work by adding a reflection tag, e.g. I chose this piece for my portfolio because... The transfer of ownership from teacher to student is a gradual process that evolves over time. Younger learners naturally need more support and  guidance than older learners do. Parents can also be part  of the portfolio selection and become involved in their child’s  learning process. The parents are usually invited to be the audience at student-led  portfolio conferences at school.  This is when the students take the lead in telling their story of learning.

There are many different kinds of portfolio systems used in schools: showcase portfolios, working portfolios, process portfolios, assessment portfolios, cross-discipline and discipline-based portfolios, pass-along and graduation portfolios. They all ahve different purposes and thereare many choices to make before you get started. The most common advice is to start small by collecting students’ work and in the beginning focus on the main purpose for the portfolio. It takes time to develop a portfolio system.

Portfolios can also be a tool for effective staff development and be used as an instrument to help evaluate teacher’s teaching. They provide means for teachers to reflect deeply about their teaching methods and curriculum. When listening to students talk about their collections of work a teacher gets a better sense of what his or her students are learning, how they are learning and how to help them in that process.