In VET teacher education, e-portfolios document student teachers' learning journey, professional development, and career planning (Korhonen et al., 2019; Korhonen et al., 2020). E-portfolio, as "a collection of digital artefacts articulating experiences, achievements and learning" (Joint Information Systems Committee, 2008, p. 8), can be used as an assessment and a learning tool (Lin, 2008). Based on a professional standard, it supports ownership over the knowledge and skills acquired, verifies the relevance of emerging teaching practices, enhances self-confidence as a teacher, and creates a more in-depth connection with the future occupation (Lewis & Gebric, 2012). As a display of authentic evidence, an e-portfolio represents both what has been learned over time and what has been reflected upon (Barrett, 2005). As such, the e-portfolio enables teacher students to become reflective practitioners (Oakley et al., 2014; Schneider, 2020) who understand their professional development and future development needs (Korhonen et al., 2020). Understanding student teachers' perspectives can lead to more effective integration of e-Portfolios into the teacher education curriculum (Lin, 2008; Oakley et al., 2014).

            The topic is relevant in Europe and in a worldwide perspective because e-portfolio is a tool that enables life-long learning (Korhonen et al., 2019), highlighting learnerʹs autonomy (Deci & Ryan, 2020), usefulness, and relevance of the learning content (Chittum, 2018).

             The presentation aims to identify VET teacher students' experiences in creating e-portfolios and demonstrating their competences. We sought answers to the following research questions:

1. What role plays the e-portfolio in framing the studies?
2. What supports VET student teachers in creating e-portfolios?
3. What challenges VET student teachers experienced in creating e-portfolios?

These aspects could be relevant for a more targeted and effective implementation of e-portfolios in VET teachers' initial and in-service training. 

The study used a qualitative method based on five focus group interviews with 19 VET teacher students. The sample consisted of second and third-year teacher students from one Estonian university; 15 female and four males. 11 respondents worked as a teacher while studying, 5 had no teaching experience. At the time of the interviews, the students had worked on the portfolio for one and a half or two and a half years, respectively. They had not reached the final assessment stage. The interviewees gave informed consent before the study. Focus group interviews were chosen because they allowed bringing together individuals with similar experiences and drawing on group dynamics, generating discussion about the experience of writing a development portfolio, identifying collective views, and exploring the topic in context and depth (Nyumba et al., 2017). The interview design was based on the purpose of the study and previous research on the topic (e.g., Korhonen et al., 2020; Lin, 2008) and covered two main themes. The first one focused on students' experiences in the process of creating an e-portfolio (e.g., the interviewees were asked to describe the process of creating a portfolio, to highlight aspects that supported the process, etc.), while the second theme concerned the interviewees' opinions on the role of the portfolio in supporting the learning process (e.g., the interviewees were asked to highlight skills developed during its creation and to evaluate the portfolio as a tool for documenting and supporting the learning process). The interviews lasted 61 minutes on average. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. The total length of the transcribed text was 60 pages. The data were analyzed using qualitative inductive content analysis, which allowed for a more condensed description of the phenomenon under study, as comprehensive as possible (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008). The coding and categorization of the data were carried out using QCAmap. In order to maximize the reliability of the study, re-encoding and researcher triangulation was used. The results of both coding and categorization were discussed with the co-researchers until a consensus was reached.

The results show that VET teacher students perceived the role of the e-portfolio rather as an important collection of evidence. At the same time, some valued its learning function, experiencing it as supportive and empowering for setting learning goals, linking theory and practice, and self-reflection. Creating an e-portfolio made both learning and non-learning visible in students' experiences. Students perceived the professional standard as an axis of learning that supported them in making sense of what they had learned and helped them make their knowledge and teaching skills visible. While some of the students valued the opportunity to create a unique portfolio and express their individuality, the lack of a specific right way to create a portfolio, proved to be a challenge for other students. Therefore, one of the crucial concerns for the future implementation of e-portfolios in VET teacher training is supporting students' understanding of portfolios' combined, even conflicting, aims. We consider it essential to rethink the e-portfolio guidelines with a clear timeline and the scaffolding activities at the beginning of the process and then gradually give responsibility to the students. This could help students overcome the uncertainties in their first steps of creating an e-portfolio and support them in coping with the open nature of the e-portfolio and its diverse purposes. Next, the results confirmed the importance of integrating the e-portfolio into the curriculum as a whole. This implies a need to enhance the cooperation between the faculty in integrating the courses and the e-portfolio tasks. In order to help students to see the practical benefits of e-portfolios in their future career planning, cooperation with the work world by creating opportunities to learn about the use of e-portfolios in school culture is necessary.

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