TKT candidates and teachers are being encouraged to record and plan their professional teaching careers using Cambridge ESOL’s new Teacher Portfolio service when it becomes available later this year.
The Teacher Portfolio is a private, personal and secure web-based facility that stores the records of teachers to help them in their career tracking, progress planning, self-evaluation and also in classroom practice and reflections. It is easy to access and easy to use.
Easy to use
The Teacher Portfolio helps teachers record and reflect on their work and can be used when they are thinking, writing and talking about their teaching – past, present and future. It helps teachers to identify problems and encourages them to develop new approaches to teaching. They can share information about their skills, knowledge and experience with others – for example, when they are on a training course, when they are thinking about their job, when applying for a new job or when someone is assessing their training needs.
The portfolio facility could be considered a portrait of the teacher, recording thoughts, beliefs and individual approaches to teaching. It is a tool that can be used throughout a teacher’s career.
The Teacher Portfolio can be used to store a record of qualifications, language development and levels (according to the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of Reference for Languages), employment records and supplementary materials – for teaching practice, career development and job applications. It also provides reflective diaries to record the teacher’s individual and personalised reflections on teaching; for example, classwork examples, successful activities, experimental lessons, useful resources, useful contacts, and so on.
It has a simple structure, easy navigation and clear instructions allowing the user to move quickly from one area to another. The areas are:
1. Profile
- Summary profile
- Language profile
- Access details
2. Teaching
- Teaching qualifications
- Courses I have taught
- Teaching and learning samples
- Teaching action plan
3. Reflections
- Reflective diary
- Beliefs about teaching and learning
4. Achievements
- Employment record
- Training courses attended
- Certificates in language skills
5. Assets
- Secure storage for documents – CVs, teaching artifacts, lesson plans, classroom schedules, etc.
6. Referees
- Storage of personal and professional referees
7. Portfolio options
- Print facility of portfolio
8. Contact Cambridge ESOL
- E-mail contacts
Easy to access
The Teacher Portfolio is designed so that anyone from anywhere in the world can file and record their professional career details into this globally accessible website. It features high levels of security, flexibility and accessibility so that the personal reflections, contact details and teaching experiences can be stored safely in a secure web programme that is user-friendly and dynamic.
This service was available from 8 May 2006; www.TeacherPortfolio.CambridgeESOL.org