Abstract:

Assessment is important in education since it allows to identify the achievements of the students. Assessment should be versatile to achieve effective outcomes. One of the versatile assessment options is the portfolio assessment. A portfolio is the sum of the student work that reveals students' studies, their development and achievements. Portfolios, which are a collection of products produced by the students and used in the assessment of pre-school children, are assessment instruments that provide information about the process, not the outcome, and allow the supervision of the children’s development. Despite several advantages of portfolio assessment, it is not commonly used by the teachers. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine the views of preschool teachers on portfolio assessment and whether these views differed based on certain variables. Forty kindergarten teachers employed in independent kindergartens, preschool classes and private schools in Aydin, Eskişehir, Kahramanmaraş and Malatya provinces participated in the study. A semi-structured interview form was used as the data collection instrument to determine the teacher views on portfolio assessment in the study. Data analysis was conducted with content and descriptive analysis methods. Of the participating teachers, 30% stated that they did not produce a portfolio file, 67.5% stated that they were not informed about portfolio files adequately during their undergraduate studies, and 75% stated that they developed portfolio assessment skills during their work as a teacher. Despite the fact that 70% of teachers stated that they utilized portfolio files, 82.5% stated that they did not organize a portfolio report. It is suggested that the significance of the portfolio assessment should be emphasized more in pre-school teacher education programs based on the present study results and more information should be provided for the teachers on the portfolio development through in-service training.

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