Teacher training in the European Higher Education Area: a look at the American model

This paper focuses on providing an explanation of the sense, limits and possibilities of evaluating the students skills and learning processes through the Portfolio. This new evaluation tool has been used for training reflective education professionals since the eighties in the North American education system and has now arrived to our university context under the European Union education guidelines. I insist that the Portfolio may fulfil different functions and adopt different formats but the essential element is that it reflects the students learning processes as well as the skills that the student develops. (c) 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.