Functions of the learning portfolio in student teachers’ learning process

We aimed to develop a framework that could be used to describe the value of the learning portfolio for the learning process of individual student teachers. Retrospective interviews with 21 student teachers were used, as were their portfolio-evaluation reports on their experiences of working on a portfolio. Seven functions of the learning portfolio in the student teachers’ learning process emerged from the data. It was possible to distinguish between product and process functions: with product functions, the production of a portfolio was seen as working on a tangible end product; with process functions, it was the interplay between reflecting on the learning process and the learning process itself that was the key. Two subgroups of process functions of the learning portfolio were also distinguished, based on the type of learning they facilitated. Different views were expressed by the student teachers about the value of the portfolio, and it seems worthwhile to take these differences into account by making more diverse use of portfolios in teacher-education courses.