The ‘Portfolio of Evidence’ (PoE) is a requirement for every pre-service teacher in Australia. At UTAS, the concept is introduced to beginning students and is systematically embedded across units and semesters through assessment tasks. While the portfolio approach is well-aligned with teacher education, students can become over-whelmed with the perceived enormity of the task and develop the perception that the PoE is difficult and time consuming. This paper reports on an initiate to target ‘reflective writing’ as the key to portfolio success. The students are supported to write reflectively through a progressive workbook that breaks the process down into logical steps. This workbook culminates in a reflective report which is then submitted as a foundation artefact for the PoE. If a student can learn to reflect naturally and confidently on evidence, the process is likely to become second-nature and the PoE will become a strong representation of their learning journey.

1. The Portfolio of Evidence
The Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG, 2014)
stipulated that all pre-service should keep a ‘Portfolio of Evidence’
in order to demonstrate that they are ready to teach on
graduation.
Scaffolding Reflective Writing
for the Portfolio of Evidence
Jennifer Masters, University of Tasmania
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 1 of 8 pages

2. The process of "portfolio-ing"
“students can become over-whelmed with the
perceived enormity of the task
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 2 of 8 pages

3. ESH106: Academic Literacies is a:
First Semester, First Year, foundation unit for ITE
students​​​​​​​
Logical cornerstone opportunity for portfolio training.
“...without guidance or direction, [students] struggle to
move beyond superficial description
Gelfuso & Dennis, 2014
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 3 of 8 pages

4. Assessment Task 1 (AT1) personal reflection on
literacies
You need to reflect on your own literacies. You should outline what
you think is meant by literacies and reflect on your learning
experiences. You will need to discuss the new challenges you face
as new pre-service teacher, including the Faculty Numeracy and
Literacy Competency tests that you have been asked to complete.
You will then look to the future and identify how you can build and
extend your literacies as you proceed on your learning journey.
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 4 of 8 pages

5. The Personal Reflection on Literacies PebblePad workbook
“The Personal Reflection on Literacies PebblePad
workbook provided a scaffolding structure
to help the students work through the task through
the task, step by step...
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 5 of 8 pages

6. This workbook served as a scaffold, as it:
broke down the task into manageable steps
helped students to locate key information
gave students a clear starting point
provided in-context prompts, support and advice
modelled writing style and genre
balanced the word count across the task
supported review, reflection and 'polishing'
introduced students to the process of reflective writing
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 6 of 8 pages

7. “A course wide embedded portfolio of evidence is a
worthy target,
although this goal requires significant investment and
takes considerable time.
The students need to take responsibility for their own
collection and the reflective sense-making that goes
with it.
The skills for this reflection should not be assumed
and students need to be
supported to build their capacity to think and then
write reflectively.
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 7 of 8 pages

8.
Jennifer Masters - University of Tasmania
Created: 26-SEP-18 Last Modified: 07-OCT-18
Page: EPortfolios Australia
Page 8 of 8 pages