PORTFOLIOS AS BOUNDARY OBJECT: LEARNING AND CHANGE IN TEACHER EDUCATION

Abstract

Transformation in teacher education is seen as crucial for creating change within the educational system. In this article, we explore how members in a teacher education pro- gram interpret new ideas and tools such as portfolio assessment, case-based methods, and ICT. These ideas and tools are important conditions for the collective change of the institution, where portfolio assessment emerges as a new object between the subject- oriented communities. In activity theoretical terms, we suggest that learning is a matter of acting on and talking about the object within and between communities. These side- ways movements lead to transformations on the object. This conception also gives us an alternative perspective on the classical theory/practice problem.