What is a professional development portfolio?
A portfolio is a selection of materials which illustrate your professional growth as a teacher. It is a work in progress and helps you to identify, focus and reflect on areas of interest to you as a teacher. What goes into it is your decision. You choose what you feel best represents your knowledge, skills, achievements and expertise. It enables you to plan, review and assess your professional development. You decide how you will use it and whether it is for your eyes alone, or whether you will share it with colleagues, mentors or supervisors.
Why should I have a professional development portfolio?
People working in the creative arts build up portfolios to showcase their work and demonstrate how their creativity has evolved throughout their careers. These portfolios help to secure work, commissions, exhibitions etc. So too can teachers display exemplars of their work over time and demonstrate their growth as professionals. Teachers' portfolios may be used to help in applying for jobs, or as part of a formal school evaluation process, but there are intrinsic benefits too:
- Helps you to plan your development
- Facilitates reflective practice
- Provides a framework for lifelong learning
- Enhances teaching
- Has a positive impact on your learners
- Helps keep you motivated
- Provides a system for recording and documenting key points of your work
- Gives you a platform for exploring teaching
- Helps you to develop your English language skills
- Helps you to identify where you can go for the support you need
- Provides a basis for review
For guidance on developing your Portfolio, see the following links.
Tips for building your portfolio
Where are you now in your career? What do you know? What can you do? How did you get here? What would you like to know? What would you like to be able to do? How do you make progress? Learn more here.
What can I put in my portfolio?
Anything which you feel records your growth as a teaching professional! Learn more here.
Steps to your portfolio
How you can get started and build your own professional development Portfolio. Learn more here.
