ABSTRACT
Portfolios of work are compiled and kept by schools in order to achieve consistency and accuracy in their teacher assessment. Few schools keep them for other than the core subjects of mathematics, English and science, although work can be moderated for all subjects. The background to this definition of portfolios dates back to the position before Sir Ron Bearing undertook his review of the National Curriculum in 1995. Some schools had felt that they were expected to keep evidence in every subject to support assessments on every child. Some schools and teachers, under pressure from the end of key stage assessment process, and the fact that it could be externally audited, kept exemplar evidence for every child on all subjects. The system was bureaucratic, unmanageable and expensive. Bearing affirmed what most considered a common sense position, that teachers should not be required to keep evidence of every single piece of learning and nor should they try. Whole-school portfolios of moderated work developed as an attempt to keep the
system manageable and relevant to teachers’ and pupils’ needs, as well as providing evidence for any external audit. This position was supported in the revised OFSTED (1994) handbook for the inspection of primary and nursery schools:
Thus the school portfolio serves two main purposes. It provides evidence of standards of assessment within the school and it attempts to achieve consistency of assessment throughout the school and between schools.
