Teaching records
The teaching assessment portfolio, the personal file and the course assessment document — what each one is, who keeps it, and when it is compiled.
Three documents, three different jobs
Three records are easy to confuse because they are usually named by their initials and because a teacher may be asked for all three in the same term. They are separate documents with separate purposes and separate keepers.
- TAP — the teaching assessment portfolio. The record of a teacher's own academic work across the year. Kept by the teacher.
- PF — the personal file. The employment record the university holds for each member of staff. Kept by the administration.
- CAD — the course assessment document. The report on a single module after it has been taught. Written by the module teacher.
The teaching assessment portfolio (TAP)
The portfolio is where a teacher demonstrates, with evidence rather than assertion, what they did during the academic year.
It is assembled by the teacher and submitted to the head of department at the point in the year set by the college. Typical contents:
- The modules taught, with their course descriptions and course files.
- Samples of assessment set, and of marked student work across the range of grades.
- Results of student feedback, and any response made to it.
- Supervision of graduation projects and student consultation.
- Committee work and administrative responsibilities carried during the year.
- Research, publication and professional development activity.
- Community and university service.
The personal file (PF)
The personal file is held by the university, not by the member of staff. It is the formal employment record: appointment documents, certified qualifications, contract papers, annual evaluations and official correspondence.
Your responsibility for it is narrow but real — make sure the file actually contains your current qualifications and an up-to-date record of your position. If you have completed a degree or a recognised course since you were appointed, lodge the certificate rather than assuming it has been noticed. Ask the administration how to inspect your file or have an entry corrected.
The course assessment document (CAD)
The CAD is written per module, per semester, once teaching and assessment for that module are finished. It is the teacher's own account of how the course actually ran:
- What was delivered, compared with what the course description planned.
- How the assessment was constructed and weighted.
- How students performed, and where the difficulties concentrated.
- What the teacher would change before teaching the module again.
It goes to the department and forms part of the evidence reviewed in the quality cycle.
How they fit together across a year
- Before teaching: the course description is finalised and the course file is opened.
- During the semester: material, attendance and assessment records accumulate in the course file as they are produced.
- After results: the CAD is written for each module while the detail is still fresh.
- End of year: the TAP is assembled largely from the course files and CADs already completed.
- The annual evaluation that follows is recorded in the personal file.
A portfolio is a filing habit, not an end-of-year writing task. Everything reconstructed from memory in the last week is weaker than the same thing filed on the day it happened.
Templates and questions
Templates and cover sheets for all three documents come from the quality assurance office through your college administration; confirm you are using the current version before you begin. Keep a copy of anything you submit. Where forms are published for download they appear under Documents, and questions about scope or timing should go to your head of department, or through Contact.