Teaching Portfolio

Assessment 3

Assessment Overview

Purpose

This assessment requires you to create your graduate teaching portfolio. Specifically, you will provide evidence of your ability to meet the graduate level of the Australian Professional Standards for Teaching by annotating a collection of artefacts from your placements that illustrate your practice in relation to these graduate standards.

The Learning Outcome addressed in this assessment is:

LO 4:  the Graduate level of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

 AI USE IN ASSESSMENT

The assessment must be completed entirely without AI assistance. Students are required to rely solely on their own knowledge, understanding, and skills. AI tools must not be used at any point during this assessment. For placement units, the use of AI is strictly prohibited. AI platforms are not secure environments, and uploading any data related to children into such platforms constitutes a serious breach of privacy and ethical standards.

Assessment Structure

The portfolio is a tool that helps you to gather evidence of your skills, reflect on your experiences and recognise your improvement and development over time... ...In addition to encouraging reflective thinking and the development of lifelong learning skills, a portfolio enables you to build a comprehensive repository of information. This will provide you with a valuable resource for demonstrating your skills, knowledge, and achievements to prospective employers.

(Mcardle, Gibson, Zollo, 2015, p. 34-35)

You will be required to gather artefacts from your placements and articulate what is made visible through the presence of the artefact, referring specifically to the standard, as well as your personal philosophy in relation to this standard.

Your artefacts should provide an example of the breadth of your abilities. Therefore, you should collect a variety of different types of evidence such as: pedagogical narrations, observations, planning, photos of environments, work with all age groups, letters, inquiry project summaries, reflective practice protocols, narratives etc.

PLEASE NOTE: 

This assessment should use the Australian Professional Standards for Teaching as a Framework to organise your portfolio. Please see the resources below to help you:

https://www.vit.vic.edu.au/sites/default/files/media/pdf/2024-07/Document_ECT-Evidence_Guide.pdf

Your portfolio must be submitted to the dropbox, but also be taken to a job interview.  Please consider this when chosing the program for your portfolio. 

Instructions 

To get started on your assessment task, please follow the below instructions.

1. Portfolio Format: Select the application you wish to use for your portfolio. You may use teaching portfolio programs or standard applications such as Microsoft Word. Ensure that any subscription-based platform allows you to download your work if you discontinue the service.
2. Artefact Selection: Review the artefacts collected during your placement experiences. Choose two artefacts as evidence for each of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST), totalling 14 artefacts. Include a variety of evidence types to demonstrate the breadth of your teaching abilities. Ensure your portfolio includes work with both B-2 and 3-5-year-old children.
3. Artefact Descriptions: Each artefact must be accompanied by a short description explaining what is made visible through the artefact and how it connects to your personal teaching philosophy and the APST.
4. Portfolio Presentation: Ensure your portfolio is professionally presented and easy to navigate. Use clear headings, subheadings, and a table of contents. Organise your portfolio by APST standards using their full names. Maintain clarity and spacing throughout the document.
5. Portfolio Discussion Requirement: In week 8, you are required to attend and participate in a scheduled portfolio discussion. During this discussion, you will present your teaching philosophy and answer guided questions from your lecturer that explain how your selected artefacts align with the APST. This discussion will be assessed as part of your final grade.

Discussion Expectations: 

• Attend a scheduled discussion session with your instructor or mentor.
• Present and explain your teaching philosophy as included in your portfolio.
• Discuss at least three artefacts and how they demonstrate your alignment with APST.
• Reflect on how your experiences and artefacts represent your growth and understanding as a teacher.
• Be ready to reflect on your learning journey and respond to questions spontaneously.

Example

There is a template that outlines the structure to follow for this assessment. 

1. Include a title page, table of contents, your early childhood focused resume, your philosophy statement, and discussion and artefacts for each of the seven teaching standards.
2. There is no need to provide evidence for each of the sub-standards for this task, however, you can refer to the sub-standards that are evident in your artefacts.
3. Make sure to use APA 7 referencing for any citations and referencing as well as correct spelling and grammar throughout Assessment 3

Assessment Criteria

The following levels of criteria will be used to grade this assessment task:

• Criterion 1: Personal Philosophy 20%
• Criterion 2: Use of Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 20%
• Criterion 3: Curation of Artefacts 20%
• Criterion 4: Accompanying descriptions 20%
• Criterion 5: Overall presentation and style 10%
• Criterion 6: Portfolio Discussion Participation 10%

Access Assessment 3 Rubric for the full marking criteria.

Submission Instructions

Please submit your completed assessment electronically via the Assessment 3 Dropbox.