In Spring 2006 the Department of Education, the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers in Northern Ireland (UCETNI), the Regional Training Unit (RTU) and General Teaching Council of Northern Ireland (GTCNI) established the Working Group with the brief of drawing up the principles and concepts on which teachers and their organisations (schools, HEIs and support organisations such as Education and Library Boards (ELBs) would use e-portfolios.

Project Timeline

	As well as evaluating and developing appropriate software platforms the work was augmented with a pilot study undertaken within the University of Ulster, in which its open source Professional Development System (PDSystem) was trialled among 30 of its PGCE student teachers. Read Report

The project has also drawn on the professional development recommendations contained in the DE ICT strategy “emPowering Schools”, (DE 2004);  the GTCNI’s ‘Report to DE on Teacher Competences and CPD’ (2003);  ‘Teaching: the Reflective Profession’ launched by the Council on 15^th June 2007 and the National Standards for Headship (NI).

Uniquely, the Te-PNI work has brought together all agencies involved in teacher education, and we have been grateful for the active support and expertise provided by C2K, the involvement of school principals, the ongoing consultation with The British Education Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) and the Teacher Development Agency (TDA).

The illustration below shows the scope of our project and how we hope to engage all partners in providing a set of online tools that will help teachers in all stages of their career.