Assessment framework for the Secondary Science teacher portfolio

Ensuring validity and reliability

The conceptual framework in the table below is designed to ensure that, together, the portfolio tasks provide evidence relevant to:

• The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
• The Australian Curriculum for Science
• Skills for effective teaching.

In the table below, the shading shows how the four portfolio entries together provide multiple forms of evidence for each of the standards. Heavier shading shows where the main emphases rest for each entry. Each entry is independent and focuses on a different unit of work. Each entry has a different curriculum focus and each calls on different teaching skills. These requirements promote greater reliability in making judgements about a teacher’s performance.

The table shows that Entry 1 is designed to provide evidence about how a teacher builds science understanding over time. The main sources of evidence are a teacher’s learning activities and samples of student work over time. For Entry 2 the focus shifts to the quality of discourse that a teacher can use to facilitate the development of scientific understanding and literacy skills. A video recording provides one of the main sources of evidence in this entry. A video recording is also one of the main sources of evidence in Entry 3. However, the focus shifts to science inquiry skills and the teacher’s capacity to promote science investigation through collaborative group work. Entry 4 directly addresses Standards 6 and 7 in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, while providing indirectly evidence in relation to Standards 1 to 5. The entry requires a teacher to initiate a small project that engages their immediate professional community in improving the quality of opportunities for students to learn science. 

Portfolio entries
APST Standards	Entry title	1. Building science understanding over time	2. Conducting a whole class discussion	3. Science inquiry and investigation	4. Engaging your professional community
	Teaching skill	Linking goals, activities and assessments	Whole class discussion	Collaborative group work	Teacher leadership
	Main sources of evidence	Student work samples	Video-based	Video-based	Documented accomplishments
	Curriculum focus Content strands of the AC:S or mandated variant	SU & SHE/SIS	SU/SHE/SIS	SIS & SU/SHE	Depends on the project
1: Know students and how they learn
2: Know the content and how to teach it
3: Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning
4: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments
5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning
6: Engage in professional learning
7: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community