Independent Learning Portfolios

1. The Independent Professional Learning Portfolio (IPLP)
2. The Independent Leadership for Learning Portfolio (ILLP)

The work of professional educators has changed significantly in recent years and is subject to continuous, and often rapid, change. For many educators, participating in significant programs of educational reform involves advanced and extended learning. The Independent Learning Portfolio enables educators to document and engage in critical reflection on this learning.

The Independent Professional Learning Portfolio (IPLP) is designed to enable educators, with the support of a mentor, to document and engage in critical reflection on a particular focus of advanced professional workplace learning. This unit provides you with the opportunity to develop a professional learning portfolio where learning can be documented and critically examined.

The Independent Leadership for Learning Portfolio (ILLP) is designed to enable educators, with the support of a mentor, to document and engage in critical reflection on professional workplace learning focusing on leadership.

For more detailed portfolio information, download a brochure

For assessment criteria, download Assessment Guidelines

If you choose to pursue your professional studies and enrol in a Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma or Master of Education program, your portfolio unit of study will be credited as one completed Certificate, Diploma or Master's unit, providing the portfolio is submitted for assessment and deemed satisfactory. Many pathways exist in the Faculty's post-graduate programs that could build upon the topic you explore in either the IPLP or ILLP unit.

A feature of the portfolio unit of study is the role played by a mentor. Your mentor will have the role of a 'critical friend' and will be available to help you negotiate and engage with your chosen topic. You need to choose a mentor from your professional context. Ideally, this person would be a work colleague involved with professional development or a colleague in a leadership position. Alternatively, someone beyond your immediate workplace who has an interest in your professional learning, for example a District Consultant, could also fulfil the mentor role. Normally, the mentor would have a Master's degree or its equivalent in the professional domain of your work.

IPLP students develop and submit a professional learning portfolio that demonstrates their own advanced workplace learning. The learning portfolio arises from the interaction between the professional learning and its documentation

ILLP students develop and submit a ‘leadership for learning’ portfolio that demonstrates their own advanced workplace learning and the development of leadership in others. The portfolio also demonstrates the student’s capacity to facilitate extended workplace learning in others. The learning portfolio arises from the interaction between the professional learning and its documentation.

It is inappropriate to specify word count or preparation time, since this will vary depending on the nature and scope of the professional learning. A completion certificate will be sent on satisfactory assessment of the portfolio.

There is a fee of $360 for assessment

For further information, please contact the academic Dr Louise Sutherland.

To enrol, download a registration form