Producing a Showcase Portfolio

Producing a Showcase Portfolio

Producing a Showcase Portfolio

The Showcase Portfolio

In vocationally based apprenticeships, the apprentice will often produce pieces of work which demonstrate
the application of the practical skills they have learned and developed over the duration of their
apprenticeships as evidence of their competence.

In more academic apprenticeships, it can be difficult to produce physical examples of work and therefore an
alternative method of demonstrating the skills and knowledge developed over time is needed. The solution
is a portfolio of evidence. For many years apprentice portfolios were used and were crammed full of the
apprentices work during the apprenticeship. This was hugely challenging for assessors to evaluate, simply
because there was so much evidence being produced.

The result was the introduction of the Showcase Portfolio. This is a condensed summary of the learners
work which must satisfy specific, defined criteria.

Definition

A showcase portfolio is a collection of evidence that demonstrates the apprentice’s
knowledge, skills and behaviours against the relevant areas/KSB groups within the
Standard.

The Showcase Portfolio…

• Enables apprentices to showcase their best work, and the activities that are most relevant to them
and their role

• Includes some form of contextualisation (not reflection) that links their skills-based and behavioural
evidence to what they have learned on-programme and what they did within the workplace during
the time they were on their apprenticeship

• Is validated using witness testimonies and/or observations
• Needs to be clearly mapped to the KSBs within the relevant assessment method for their Standard

The purpose of the Showcase Portfolio is to provide the EPA with an overview of what the apprentice has
been doing during the apprenticeship and it will provide the basis for the questions which will be set for the
Professional Discussion which forms part of the End Point Assessment process.

• The Showcase Portfolio should only contain evidence which covers the KSBs assessed within the
• relevant assessment method (usually the Professional Discussion)

• The portfolio may be restricted to around 15 -20 pieces of evidence and requires a mapping
document that shows how each piece of evidence is mapped to the relevant KSBs

• The portfolio will be predominantly skills-based (Work-based examples/activities supported by
contextualisation statement & validated using witness testimonies/observations)

The evidence should be selected by the apprentice to ‘showcase’ their best work and the key activities that
are most relevant to them. As a result, the apprentice not only knows exactly what is in their portfolio but
also why and can discuss the evidence in-depth at their live assessment.

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A single piece of evidence can take either of the following 2 formats:

1. It could be a single thing or activity, such as a Feedback Report, a ‘Thank-you email’ or an
observation

2. It could also be a combination of 2-3 things that are all related and when combined provide full
coverage of a relevant learning outcome, area or grading descriptor within the Standard. e.g.: The
activity of chairing a project review meeting that is supported by the following appendices /
documents:

• a copy of the agenda/minutes (that clearly show the apprentice's role)
• the project plan/milestones report (what was discussed, what actions have been agreed)
• a witness testimony or observation by one of the attendees at the meeting (validating what

the apprentice did, how they acted and what were the relevant KSBs that they saw
demonstrated)

It is important that the evidence is clearly related to the defined criteria and this can be demonstrated
through the triangulation of evidence.

The evidence should meet the following criteria:

• Contextualisation – I used what I learned to……………….

• Application (via activity or example) – Here’s what I did……………………

• Validation – confirmation that Learner has done what they set out to do

Planning the Portfolio

• Needs to include about 20 pieces of evidence
o only covers the KSBs listed for Assessment Method (The Professional Discussion)

• Needs to be specific to the individual Apprentice
o In order for them to be able to discuss/talk about it in depth at their EPA

• Ideally should be grouped into and is relevant to the KSB groups defined in the assessment plan

• Needs to show what they did/learned, how they did it and validated

Mapping the Evidence

• It is a requirement to include a mapping document with the portfolio that clearly shows how the
evidence maps to the relevant KSBs within the assessment method

• The Independent End Point Assessor is only able to review the evidence that has been mapped
• The Apprentice has to reference and be able to talk in-depth about the evidence submitted in

their portfolio during their professional discussion
• It is not the responsibility of the IAA to ‘guess’ what areas or KSBs the evidence is supporting if it

has not been mapped or cannot be easily identified

At the start of any apprenticeship, it is vital that the employer, apprentice and the provider fully understand
all specific details and requirements of the published apprenticeship standard and associated assessment

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plan. This will have been explained by the training provider at the start of the programme and will be
repeated throughout.

Apprentices studying at higher levels are reasonably expected to take a high level of ownership of their
portfolio evidence, so they must be fully aware of their responsibility and what is required from the start.

Any evidence contained in a portfolio must comply with all confidentiality and data protection requirements
and this will be explained to the apprentice at the start of their apprenticeship. Providing the evidence still
showcases the required S/K/B and is still authentic, then redaction of evidence is suitable.

A portfolio evidence can in many cases, include work-based reports, project plans, reflective journals,
presentations, assignments, photographs and videos. The key message is not about the quantity of
evidence, but the quality and ensuring the evidence meets the defined criteria.

The evidence should ‘showcase’ the apprentices’ achievements, including expected behaviours in how they
are working with others and in teams.

The independent end-point assessor will not be familiar with the apprentice or the specifics of their work
environment so evidence must be clear and unambiguous in its presentation.

Where audio or video evidence is used it is recommended, where feasible, that the IEPA can clearly and
easily identify the key pertinent points within the recording where an apprenticeship outcome is being met.
Please be mindful and check of any file size restrictions applied by the EPAO for this type of evidence

Referencing a Portfolio

Normally this will be competed in an electronic format to enable uploading onto the EPAO assessment
platform.

The apprenticeship progress reviews with employers and providers will review how the apprentice is
capturing and collating their portfolio evidence and to check that it is meeting all requirements of the
apprenticeship and EPA.

Before submission, the apprentice should double check all their portfolio evidence to ensure its validity,
currency, sufficiency and reliability and that their completed portfolio meets the set criteria outlined within
any EPA plan/any additional guidance provided by the EPAO.
The duplication of evidence should be avoided wherever possible – a range of different evidence should
always be considered where possible.

The evidence must be clear to those assessing it, e.g. any photographs scanned in electronically must be of
good quality, so they can be clearly seen by the independent end point assessor (IEPA). Visual clarity applies
to all submitted evidence not just to photographs and videos.

The portfolio must be cross referenced to the assessment criteria defined in the assessment plan and this
matrix must be submitted along with the evidence.

Once completed, the portfolio should undergo one final check to make sure the content of the portfolio
reflects the apprentice’s best work before submission.

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Creating Competency-Based Evidence

You may have heard the term “competency-based” in the past, particularly in an interview situation and
though few people enjoy the experience of this type of interview, it is used by organisations as it is an
effective way of allowing the interviewee to showcase their skills and behaviours and that they have the
necessary knowledge to fulfil the role.

This straightforward format can also be applied in a variety of other situations. These will be most prominent
in all areas of your end point assessment. The will be part of the Q&A process and should be used as a tool
to create the showcase portfolio and in the professional discussion about it. In order for you to be able to
deal with these competency based responses, there are a few simple rules which should be observed.

Set the scene

Start with an introduction to the Issue, problem or task which you are trying to address or resolve in the
evidence you are providing. It should be a clear, concise, and relatively brief overview of the situation which
caused you to be involved and the impact it was having up to this point on the business, people, financials,
or any other metric.

Example Scenario:

“Following my promotion I noticed that there was not a clearly defined process for how stock items
which had been returned were handled. Each person or each shift had their own method of dealing
with these items and there was no sharing of information and ideas as to how a standard system
might be developed.

This seemed to be very badly considered as it was creating discrepancies in stock records and leading
to problems with the raising and control of credit notes. This meant that some product lines were
showing as underperforming when in fact they were not and the failure to manage this meant that
weaknesses in certain products were not being noticed so faults could not be put right.

It was clear that something needed to be done to improve the accuracy of stock records and manage
the problems which were arising in the manufacturing process.”

What you did

Once you have described the issue, problem or task, the next step is to describe in detail what you did to
resolve the situation and describe how you completed these actions.

This section should be the main focus of your answer or scenario.

This means clearly describing, step by step, the actions taken and how each step contributed to the
successful outcome. It is not enough to simply say you ‘effectively communicated’ with colleagues. You must
explain how you did this, i.e.:

“I distributed examples of my proposed returns report to all those who were affected by it and asked
for their feedback. By asking them to respond, I knew that I had gathered the views of everyone
affected. Those who didn’t respond I visited in person to discuss my proposal. As a result of this I got
to know some people who I had worked with for years, much better which also helped in building
stronger relationships. Once I had gathered everyone’s thoughts and ideas I reviewed by planned
report and made the changes which were suggested and could be accommodated and then arranged a

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meeting between the Team Leaders to agree a final draft before presenting it to the senior
management.”

It cannot be stressed highly enough that you need to be specific about the actions you took and how you
dealt with each step in the process. You are creating a mental picture (preferably illustrated) which the EPA
will read to better understand what you have been doing and how you have used and demonstrated your
skills and behaviours

What was the outcome

Finally, you should end your answer or scenario with details of what happened as a result of your actions and
this should be as evidential as possible, in other words based on data or measurements. Example Scenario:

“Since the new reporting process was introduced, stock managed has improved with returns now
realigned back into the overall stockholding. The production and service development have been able
to identify manufacturing errors needing correction and this has now been corrected, resulting in a
significant decrease in product returns and greatly improved customer satisfaction. Evidenced in the
feedback forms they complete. This judgement is, in part, subjective, but across the business, everyone
is happier with the way reduction in product failures and the increase in stock control which has been
achieved.

The improvement in customer satisfaction is evidenced by an increase in satisfaction scores of +12%
since the introduction of the new process. At the same time, the production team have reported a 3%
decrease in manufacturing defects, with a 16% decrease in complaints relating directly to the product.

In conclusion, the new process I researched, implemented, managed has increased the efficiency of our
business processes, customer satisfaction and stock management.”

Remember, your evidence or answers to competency-based questions and assessment should be a story
which provides the end point assessor with an opportunity to see the whole picture of the issue, problem or
task, what you did step by step and the outcome of your interventions. Always try to substantiate your
dialogue with evidence taken during the process and supported with reports, feedback, graphs, charts,
spreadsheets, etc. – Remember! People will happily look at a picture an image or a graphic – they are less
likely to read a full page of text!! Use the words to link the evidence together.

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