The portfolio, a document for an internationally comparable assessment
This project is among the priority projects in the framework of cross-border cooperation in the field of education to ensure the inclusion and cooperation of the Slovenian minority in Italy. The scope of the project covers preschool and primary education and takes the form of a research aimed at introducing new ways to assess the personal progress of pupils and teachers. A number of initiatives have been promoted both in Italy and in Slovenia in the past few years to experiment and draw up a portfolio that responds to schooling needs. The pupil’s skills portfolio is a document containing a brief description of the educational development and the educational - didactic progress made by the pupils as well as a collection of significant papers that clearly indicate their personal resources, interests, the methods and times of learning, their inclinations and personal aspirations. The creation of the portfolio must be preceded by a period of close and careful observation of the pupils - both occasional and systematic - aimed at understanding and interpreting their behaviour and at identifying their needs. The teacher portfolio is instead an instrument accompanying the teachers throughout their professional growth and maturing. It aims at promoting the development of the teacher’s meta-cognitive skills. With the entry of Slovenia in the EU exchanges are encouraged also in the field of education, with a consequent need for the definition of an instrument that is easy to read and shared by the Italian and Slovenian school systems. Hence the need for a cross-border project to harmonize the paperwork produced in the two bordering countries.