Tools for developing Learner Autonomy and Self-reflection

2. Portfolio as a tool for self-reflection

A portfolio serves as a powerful tool for self-reflection in education, allowing students to visualise the progress they are making, record their experiences, and follow their growth over time. Students gather and organise a collection of their work, including assignments, projects, essays, and other artefacts that represent their learning journey. It serves as a dossier which can be offered as evidence of the progress and at the same time it can become a space for growth happening in a particular period.

A portfolio can include various documents and sections; teachers can offer a wide selection and at the same time they can agree with students on which parts should be found in each portfolio. That will depend on what purpose and aims they want to focus on during a particular time.

A portfolio can be a progress-tracking tool – students can set their aims and monitor how they are moving towards them. It is, however, important to keep in mind that it is not easy to set a proper aim which would also be achievable in a given time. Teachers need to guide students to understand how to set specific and achievable aims.

A portfolio can also be a thinking space – it can serve for reflections, recording feelings, achievements or records of challenges met and decisions made. Students need a safe space which can remain a private part of their portfolio or if agreed it can be shared with selected people. This would promote the development of metacognitive skills, making their learning journey more meaningful.

A portfolio can also serve as a storage of feedback collected from other people – peers or teachers. This would help students to enrich their thinking space of opinions and perspectives of other people who are either at their level or possess a higher level of expertise. This will encourage students to value constructive criticism, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and self-reflection.

A portfolio, however, should not be perceived as a static collection or storage. It needs to become an active companion of a learner and students should be invited to review, organise, reorganise, update, revise, etc. their portfolios periodically and reflect even on how successful they are in keeping their companion functional.