E‐portfolios in teacher education 2002–2009: the social construction of discourse, design and dissemination

This paper reports on a study of the experiences of teacher educators in the introduction and development of e‐portfolios over an eight‐year period from 2002 to 2009 at a Swedish university. The study was conducted with 67 teacher educators in order to investigate how e‐portfolios have been discussed, designed, used and disseminated during this period. Research methods involved 25 narrative interviews and a questionnaire that was completed by 42 participants. The theoretical framework of Basil Bernstein, particularly his concepts of classification, framing, educational codes and pedagogical devices, was used to analyse the data. The paper presents a discussion of the contextual circumstances in relation to classification, framing and codes that affect the social construction of e‐portfolios. The results point to parallel processes resulting in a variety of discourses and designs of e‐portfolios and highlighting the importance of the social construction of e‐portfolios across the teacher education faculty, rather than merely their implementation.