QMU School of Health Sciences Occupational Therapy - Practice Education Portfolio
The Practice Education Portfolio
As part of your ongoing professional development you are required to complete a practice education portfolio
Your practice education portfolio will form an integral part of your personal and professional development portfolio
Your portfolio will be developed from practice placement 1 through to practice placements 4
Your portfolio will give you opportunities to reflect on personal practice, learning and performance and to provide evidence of the attainment of various aspects of practice
Your portfolio will be an integral element of the assessment of your performance throughout your practice placements
Your portfolio will form the foundation for continuing professional developme
What is a portfolio?
- A portfolio is a purposeful collection of documents and other material which provides evidence of individuals learning and personal achievement
- A portfolio involves you collecting and collating information from a range of sources to provide evidence of your competence, learning and/or understanding. It provides a tool for identifying your ongoing learning needs and helps you to plan activities to reflect these areas
- A portfolio is a collection of evidence which indicates that your performance in an area of work meets certain standards
- The portfolio also includes elements of self-assessment and personal reflection, thus it communicates your development to yourself and others.
Guidelines for the practice education portfolio
- Use the Personal and Professional Development Portfolio template to provide a framework for your portfolio
- During each placement select one criterion from each of the main sections of the Practice Placement Assessment Form.
i.e -Professional Conduct
- Professional Communication Skills
- Occupational Therapy Process
- Integrating Knowledge into Practice
- Organisation and Management
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For each selected criterion provide evidence of your learning/development
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Each item of evidence should be supported by written reflective commentary that highlights your learning /development
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Do not select a similar criterion more than once.
What kinds of evidence could I collect?
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Supervision records and notes
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Practice Placement Assessment Form (or extracts from it)
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Student Evaluation of Practice Placement Form (or extracts from it)
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Notes from tutorial sessions
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Written work relating to the attainment of the learning outcomes for placement
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Feedback from oral presentations you may have given during placements
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Journal articles / extracts from textbooks
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Case study material
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Testimonies from your practice educators or others
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Extracts from your reflective diary
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Learning Agreement Form (or extracts from it)
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Other sources may be incorporated as appropriate
Example
You select the criterion “takes responsibility for own learning” from the Professional Conduct section of the Practice Placement One Assessment Form.
You could for example include some or all of the following
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Notes from a tutorial you attend while on your first practice placement
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A list of reading material you read following the tutorial
- A photocopy of an extract from a text book or journal article related to the topic
You must include:
- A section which indicates your personal reflection on your learning including where possible integration with University studies. You are encouraged to use a structured model of reflection to assist in the development of this part of your portfolio for example:
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- Gibbs’s Reflective Cycle
- Boud and Walker
- Borton’s Developmental Framework
- Johns’s Model of Structured Reflection
- Electronic copies of templates of these models are available for downloading from the hub.
Developing your practice education portfolio
Your portfolio will build up from placement to placement. By the end of your practice placements you will have a range of evidence that demonstrates your continuing professional development. As you progress through your placements, your reflections should gradually place more emphasis upon evaluation and appraisal of practice, encouraging you to adopt a balanced, critical and rational perspective.
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You should not select a similar criterion more than once
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You may use sources of evidence for more than one sub-section
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Your practice educator will discuss your sources of evidence and reflection with you during supervision sessions
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Your practice educator will review all of the sources of evidence and related reflection in your portfolio at least once during your placement and offer verbal comment
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You will be expected to demonstrate evidence of personal reflection and development in supervision sessions with your practice educator.
It is recommended that you discuss your portfolio and its content with your practice educator(s) on at least one occasion during the placement.
Maintaining confidentiality and anonymity
Confidentiality and anonymity of service users and others must be maintained at all times within your portfolio. Service users must be referred to by pseudonym, staff members by their role rather than name and the institution or service in general terms rather than name.
Further Reading
ALSOP, A. 2013. Continuing professional development in health and social care: strategies for life long learning. 2nd ed. Chichester: Wiley-Backwell
GALLAGHER, M. 2009. The golden thread of continuing professional development – continuing professional development and professional portfolios. In: ATWAL, A. & JONES, M, eds. Preparing for professional practice in health and social care. [on-line book] Oxford:Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 145-152.
HEALEY, J. & SPENCER, M. 2008. Surviving your placement in health and social care. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
HEALTH AND CARE PROFESSIONS COUNCIL, 2012 Continuing professional development and your registration. [on-line]. [Viewed 15 July 2014]. London: HCPC.
HEALTH AND CARE PROFESSIONS COUNCIL. 2011. Your guide to our standards for continuing professional development. [on-line]. [viewed 15 July 2014]. London: Health and Care Professions Council.
