Portfolio assessment : an innovation in Maltese Schools

Abstract

The Maltese National Minimum Curriculum (Ministry of Education, Malta, 1999) proposes a number of changes in assessment practises with the hope of changing the whole way in which we look at assessment and the learning of studens locally. The call is for assessment practises which are more formative in nature, focus on the individual learner, focus on process rather than product and give a more holistic picture of what the student has learnt. One of the proposed innovation is the introduction of student portfolios. The authors of this paper were commissioned by the Education Division to study the issue of portfolios prior to the introduction of this mode of assessment in Maltese schools. In this paper we share the views gained from our extensive reading of the literature and give our ideas on what we think that portfolio assessment is an how it can be developed in schools. We would like to use the session to obtain constructive feedback on the way forward and explore the different views and ideas of participants in the session based on their experience and expertise from their own countries.