Reflective practice has been at the heart of teacher education and development for many years  however e-portfolios have rejuvenated its role and placed it at the forefront of teacher education once more (Barrett and Carney, 2005).  Much of the research to date has been focused on the role and purpose of e-portfolios such as learning portfolios , presentation or showcase portfolios, assessment portfolios, personal development (and planning) portfolios, multiple owner or working portfolios (Banks, 2004; Tartwijk and Driessen, 2004; EPICC, 2006). Often the portfolio is the outcome or product used to capture and present the evidence required for certification (Darling-Hammond and Synder, 2000), or professional accreditation with the processes involved in reaching the ‘standards’ being a minor, but necessary, aspect of the work.  In other cases the technical qualities of an e-portfolio dominate as users are required to demonstrate the ‘process’ of reaching professional milestones or competences so features such as portability, interoperability, useability and security (JISC, 2005) are foremost.  Other studies focus on the rollout and implementation of e-portfolios with users and how to engage participants in effective reflective practice and learning.  Moon (2005) defines reflection as “a form of mental processing that we use to fulfil a purpose or to achieve some anticipated outcome.  It is applied to gain a better understanding of relatively complicated or unstructured  ideas and is largely based on the re-processing of knowledge, understanding and possibly emotions that we already possess”.  In the context of teacher education, this definition captures the social, emotional and cognitive concerns of many student teachers who are attempting to reflect upon and understand the complexities of teaching in classrooms today.  Through reflection, the surface learning achieved through recording ‘critical incidents’ can be converted into deep learning.  Deep learning occurs when students can relate new information with  what they already knew, where an understanding of the links between old and new knowledge is synthesised, modified and internalised for future reference and use.  This research investigates the process of deep learning in student teachers’ e-portfolios by using their reflections to reveal the 5 stages of the PRIDE model which are embedded in their evidence.  The PRIDE model represents the Process of how to reflect, the action of Reflecting, the subsequent Identification of the issues arising from the reflection, the Development of a capacity of self-improvement and engagement, and finally the Evaluation of their achievements and awareness of the next stage in their professional development as a teacher.  This paper reports on student teachers’ progression along the 5 stages of the PRIDE model during the initial teacher education phase and considers the ‘enablers’ and ‘barriers’ to progress that should be addressed to support the student teachers.  The research questions for the study are therefore:

1.        Do all student teachers progress equally through the 5 stages of the PRIDE model?

2.       What factors enable and hinder their development in PRIDE?

3.       Is there a minimum level of progression in PRIDE which is required in ITE to be a awarded qualified teacher status?

       4.  What role can tutors play in assisting student teachers with  PRIDE?

Banks, B (2004) E-portfolios: their uses and benefits. Available at http://ferl.becta.org.uk/disply.cfm?resID-8089 Barrett, H and Carney, J (2005) Conflicting paradigms and competing purposes in electronic portfolio development. Available at http://electronicportfolios.com/portfolios/LEAJournal-Barrett-Carney.pdf EPICC (European Portfolio Initiatives Co-ordination Committee)(2006) Available at http://www.eife-l.org/activities/projects/epicc JISC (2005) Joint Information Systems Consortium. Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk Moon, J (2005) Learning through reflection. Available at http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?process=full_record§ion=generic&id=69 Tartwijk and Driessen (2004) Reflective Portfolios. Available at http://www.epiccproject.info