Supporting Reflection as Pre-Service Primary Teachers Develop a Mathematics Teaching Portfolio

Fourth-year pre-service primary teachers (N=148) engaged in portfolio development during a semester of preparation for a final 10-week school internship. An interpretive research approach was used to analyse data from reflection sheets, classroom observations, lecturer teaching notes, and draft and final portfolio work samples. The findings indicated how the reflective process of portfolio development was supported by development of a mathematics teaching philosophy, submission of draft portfolio items, lecturer and peer mentoring, and formal assessment interviews with school principals and other educators. A vehicle that has attracted recent attention in educational research on teacher development and change is that of professional portfolios. Various forms of a teacher professional portfolio have been promoted for supporting professional reflection an