AMEE Medical Education Guide No.11 (revised): Portfolio-based learning and assessment in medical education

Abstract

Portfolios are not new, but their use in initial and continuing professional development in medicine is still in its infancy. In this context, this guide has the following aims: to give the background and an educational rationale for portfolio-based learning and assessment in medical education; to examine how and where portfolios have been used for professional development both within and beyond medicine; to highlight issues which will need to be addressed by those wishing to implement portfoliobased learning, and suggest ways of dealing with them. It does not attempt to address the particular constraints or resource issues that face practitioners in any educational initiative, as these are far too many and too complex for a publication of this type. However, it does provide evidence of a range of ways in which opportunities have been created and developed by colleagues in establishing frameworks within which individual learning can be planned, documented and assessed.Whilst not a panacea for all learning contexts, portfolios have much to offer both learners and teachers as we move forward into the new world of revalidation, clinical governance, and increased accountability.