AMEE Medical Education Guide No. 11 (revised): Portfolio-based learning and assessment in medical education

Portfolios are nor new but their use in initial and continuing professional development in medicine is still in its infancy. In this context, this gui de has the following aims: to give the background and an educational ration ale for portfolio-based learning and assessment in medical education; to ex amine how and where portfolios have been used for professional development both within and beyond medicine; to highlight issues which will need to be addressed by those wishing to implement portfolio-based learning, and sugge st ways of dealing with them. it does not attempt to address the particular constraints or resource issues that face practitioners in any educational initiative, as these are far too many and too complex for a publication of this type. However, it does provide evidence of a range of ways in which op portunities have been created and developed by colleagues in establishing f rameworks within which individual learning can be planned, documented and a ssessed. Whilst not a panacea for all learning contexts, portfolios have mu ch to offer both learners and teachers as we move forward into the new worl d of revalidation, clinical governance, and Increased accountability.