Professional Portfolio Assessment

A Professional Portfolio is a record of your understanding and practical experiences throughout the course, but most notably in this last unit/placement of your Bachelor of Early Childhood Education.

The Portfolio,MUST be prompted by the three domains of the Graduate Standards for Early Childhood Teachers (Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice, Professional Engagement). It will provide systematic and documented evidence of your competence, reflection on practice and of your considered philosophical position of teaching and learning as a beginning teacher.

Through the Portfolio you will be able to present evidence of your competence in planning for learning, teaching and reflecting for improvement and change.

The Professional Portfolio will be used extensively in the graduating interviews at the conclusion of your course when you are seeking employment in early childhood services. You will include evidence of your skills, successful activities, lessons learned and experiences collected through participation in recent placements and interactions with peers.
The Professional Portfolio will consist of four parts:

• Part 1 - Philosophy (in-text citations are required)
• Part 2 - Inquiry Approach Project (In-text citations are required)
• Part 3 - Achievement of the Australian Professional Standards of Teaching - APST (in-text citations are required)
• Part 4 - Reference list according to the Harvard Style of Referencing

Part 1 - Philosophy

Your professional portfolio should include your philosophical views as a graduate teacher. Please include your philosophy, created in Assessment 1. This will need to be included in your portfolio but will not be re-marked.

PART 2: Inquiry Approach Project

You will undertake an inquiry approach to develop your practice and collect evidence that you meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) at the Graduate Teacher level.

Your Inquiry Approach Project will include the following five steps:

1. Establish content and context: Introduce the background. You will include observations and discussions with staff to justify the reason of choosing your inquiry. (Insert 4 incidences from weeks 1 and 2 of placement).
2. Question for inquiry: Based on the content and context provided in step 1, develop your inquiry question. Please highlight your question. Your question should follow the SMART model ( Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely). Implement research, seek professional advice and discuss with your mentor to gain information about your question. (Weeks 2 and 3 of placement)
3. Apply knowledge to practice: Create an action plan for three weeks based on the information gained in step 2. For each week include a goal for the week, list the activities planned and state the materials you will need for each activity. Aim for 3 activities per week and mention the frequency of each activity, i.e. how many times a week (Week 3 of placement).
4. Implement action: Implement the action plan over a period of three weeks when you are in full responsibility. (Week 4,5 and 6 of placement)At the end of each week evaluate the effectiveness of the activities provided and modify for the next week accordingly.
5. Evaluate effectiveness: Evaluate the effectiveness of the action plan. Was there some improvement? Did you find some answers for your inquiry question? (at the end of placement)

Through this section you will be able to demonstrate your level as a graduate teacher against each of the Australian Professional Standards of Teaching (APST).

For each of the seven standards you will repeat the following steps:

• Take a blank page and type the domain (e.g. Professional knowledge), the standard (e.g. Standard 1: Know the children and how they learn) and the chosen indicators (e.g. 1.1..., 1.3.... 1.4....) at least 2 indicators.
• Write approximately half a page narrative about a) your progress in achieving this standard since you started the course b) the importance of the standard to your teaching profession. Refer to theory, research and/or literature
• Display 2 artifacts that provide strong evidence for achieving the standard. Evidence should emerge from your recent practice and it should not be your mentor's.
• Write one paragraph creating strong links between the artefacts and the standard by explaining how they demonstrate your achievement of the standard.
• Repeat the above steps for all seven standards.