ePortfolios Beyond Pre-service Teacher Education: A New Dawn?

Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 37, Issue 3, 2014, pages 374-389.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the efficacy of using ePortfolios to enhance career skills for newly qualified teachers (NQTs).
Specifically, this paper focuses on a new area of ePortfolio-related research in teacher education; the transition from university into employment.
The context is the final phase of a longitudinal action research project investigating whether an ePortfolio, created as a pre-service teacher to evidence a digital story of developing professional identity, could transition into employability, i.e. the first year as an NQT.

The findings indicate a changing purpose of the ePortfolio from training to the workplace, an increasing strength of ownership as part of the transition, and empowerment in becoming a teacher.
Secondary findings demonstrate an increasing acceptance amongst head teachers regarding the usefulness of the ePortfolio in pre-service teacher education and in the continuing professional development of qualified teachers.