Your Trainee’s e-portfolio and your role in verifying evidence

The e-portfolio All trainees on Edge Hill University Further Education and Training programmes are expected to complete an e-portfolio via Campus Pack which is part of the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment at Edge Hill University The e-portfolios were introduced in September 2012 and have been revised and refined each year since then. We have tried to keep the amount of evidence required to the minimum that will allow the trainees to demonstrate achievement of essential skills and knowledge and to satisfy compliance requirements.

How do I get access to my trainee’s e-portfolio? Trainees have been instructed to invite their Mentor and their Personal Tutor (amongst others) to access their e-portfolio. Your trainee will invite you to access his/her e-portfolio via an e-mail generated by Campus Pack. The email will contain a hyperlink to the portfolio and you may find it useful to save the link in your Bookmarks or Favourites folder. If you have not received an email from your trainee within two weeks of them starting their practice with you, you should ask if he/she has set up their e- portfolio yet, and request that you be given access. If they have already invited you, please check your ‘junk/spam’ folder in case it has been sent there.

What is in the e-portfolio? The e-portfolio is a ‘single-source’ record that trainees will use to track their development from the earliest stages of their programme to the end of their training The evidence requirements for the e-portfolio have been substantially rationalised, meaning less duplication of evidence and a lighter workload for the trainee, their personal tutor and for you as their Mentor

What evidence do I need to verify? The evidence that your trainee needs you to verify relates to: The number of solo teaching hours the trainee has completed Three formal observations carried out by you using Edge Hill University Observation documentation (you do not have to document informal observations if you choose to carry these out with your trainee) Records of Mentor meetings These items are directly related to ensuring that the trainee’s records are compliant and that they are entitled to pass The Professional Teacher in Practice/The Reflective Teacher in Practice modules. Please note that it is the trainee’s responsibility to upload the evidence required.

Breadth of Experience All trainees must evidence breadth of experience to demonstrate that they are engaging with the wider teaching role/gaining experience of other areas of teaching, in order to increase employability Guidance in to trainees is that they: should provide evidence of engagement in the wider teaching role. Ideally this will comprise of up to 30 hours in addition to your 100 hours teaching. This can comprise of shadowing, team teaching, 1-1 delivery and can also include CPD such as attendance at conferences etc. as well as identifying engagement with maths, English and SEND.

Breadth of Experience Trainees must also demonstrate that they have carried out 3 peer observations over the length of their course and these can be an opportunity to observe classes of their own subject, a different subject area and/or different age groups/levels from their normal teaching Trainees should arrange these observations themselves, although you may be able to support this process by introducing trainees to key members of staff, especially regarding the following areas…

Breadth of Experience We strongly encourage you to highlight opportunities for trainees to engage in the following: English as an Additional Language/English for Speakers of Other Languages English and Maths (this may be in Basic/Functional Skills sessions) Students with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities Behaviour for Learning This may be through observation, team teaching, visits or Inset training. These areas are discussed as part of the course modules and Edge Hill University also hosts conferences to support knowledge in these areas, but there is no substitute for first-hand experience if this can be facilitated for approximately 5 hours per area above.

Breadth of Experience If a trainee is in receipt of a Bursary, they must log that they have experience 30 hours of engagement with the subject/type of learners required by their specific bursary award English Maths Breadth of experience/employability will be discussed at individual tutorials with Personal Tutors and we strongly encourage you to discuss this at Mentor / Mentee meetings If a trainee is not able to access teaching in English, Maths or SEND (not a Bursary area for 2016)they may need to undertake an enhancement placement and it would help us enormously if you could discuss what opportunities might be available within your setting, even if these may not be within your department.

How do I verify evidence? You and your trainee’s Personal Tutor need to verify certain evidence and this is done in two ways Through signatures on those forms that require them for example, Observation paperwork, log of hours and Through logging on to your trainee’s e-portfolio and entering your initials and the date that you verify the evidence in the appropriate page – your trainee will guide you through this process NB. It is crucial that you only verify evidence in the e- portfolio when you have logged on via the hyperlink sent by the trainee – if you verify evidence when the trainee has logged on, the system will identify this as the trainee verifying their own evidence which cannot be accepted

I don’t have time to do all this! At first glance it may appear that this is a lot of work, however we will be encouraging trainees to complete their e-portfolio from the earliest days at the university and their engagement with this will form part of the grade for the modules. This means that they should be uploading new evidence on a regular basis. We have reduced the number of observations we ask Mentors to carry out from 4 down to 3, two of which will be supported by your trainee’s Personal Tutor. The Achievement Tracker document that you have been given as part of the Mentor training, identifies target dates for the trainee to complete the various activities within the e- portfolio, and also identifies (in the far right-hand column) who is responsible for verifying the evidence that the trainee has uploaded. Only items with ‘Mentor’ in the far right-hand column require your verification, though you are free to explore all the evidence that your trainee provides if you wish.

I don’t have time to do all this! We will also be encouraging trainees to share their progress with you at your regular meetings – you can verify uploaded evidence whenever this is ready, so it should take only moments to complete on-going verification. The only thing that should wait until the end of the placement is the final verification of the teaching hours log If you have any concerns about your trainee’s e- portfolio and/or verifying the evidence, please ask your trainee’s Personal Tutor who will be happy to support you. It is the trainee’s responsibility to compile and complete their evidence, we are just asking you to confirm that certain parts of the evidence are complete and accurate.

Thank you for agreeing to support one of Edge Hill University’s Further Education and Training trainees, we hope that you will find the experience rewarding. If you have difficulty accessing your trainee’s e-portfolio please contact Lindsey Lythgoe on lindsey.lythgoe@Edgehill.ac.uk