From the 2026–2027 school year, every teacher in Romanian pre-university education is required to compile and submit a professional portfolio, under the Framework Methodology approved by Order of the Minister of Education and Research No. 3858/2026 (OM nr. 3.858/2026). The portfolio may be kept in paper or digital format, according to each school’s own procedure. For the digital format, teachers can use the Portofoliu.digital platform, signing in with their iTeach.ro account. Below are answers to the questions teachers and school leaders ask most often.
What is the teacher’s professional portfolio?
It is the set of documents reflecting a teacher’s professional, teaching and lifelong learning activity. The rules for compiling it are laid down in the Framework Methodology on the development and management of the teacher’s professional portfolio, approved by Order No. 3858/2026 and published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, No. 392 of 8 May 2026.
Is it compulsory, and from when?
Yes. From the 2026–2027 school year, teaching staff, school leaders, and guidance and inspection staff must structure, complete and submit their professional portfolio (Article 14). Compiling and updating it is the sole responsibility of each teacher (Article 5(3)).
Does it have to be digital?
No. The portfolio is kept at the school in paper or digital format, and the choice belongs to the school, through its own procedure (Article 11(1)). The order does, however, define the digital portfolio explicitly: electronic documents stored on the platform designated by the school, under secure conditions, and transferable when the teacher moves to another school (Article 2(b)).
What does the portfolio contain?
Five sections, detailed in Annex 1 to the order (Article 6):
- personal data and professional identification;
- activity specific to the teaching position;
- activities complementary to the teaching process;
- classroom management;
- career progression and professional development.
Documents are arranged in the chronological order in which they were obtained, and the portfolio has an index (opis) updated and dated each time a document is added or removed. When submitted, the portfolio is accompanied by the declaration in Annex 2 (Article 12(2)).
When is the portfolio used?
Under Article 4, the portfolio is assessed or used in the national certification examination for teachers (definitivat) and in career licensing, in the examinations for didactic grades II and I, in the annual performance evaluation, in staff mobility, in monitoring continuing professional development, in school inspections, in external quality evaluation, and in awarding merit grades, distinctions or prizes.
Where can the professional portfolio be built in digital format?
On the platform designated by the school. If the school has not yet chosen one, teachers can start individually on https://Portofoliu.digital, using their iTeach.ro account. Portofoliu.digital is the only solution identified that a teacher can start individually, without a school decision, and that follows the teacher when they change schools.
How should a platform for the digital portfolio be chosen?
The criteria follow from the order itself:
- the structure set out in Annex 1, with its five sections and 17 components;
- an index dated at every change (Article 6(3) allows automatic indexing in the digital format);
- data security and personal data protection (Article 12);
- interoperability, meaning that the portfolio can be transferred to another school (Article 2(b)).
A practical criterion completes the list: how much time the platform makes a teacher spend reconstructing documents that already exist in other systems. The Portofoliu.digital platform, developed by Social IT within the iTeach.ro ecosystem of the Institute for Education (Bucharest), is built on the Annex 1 structure, dates the index automatically, locks submitted versions with a verification code, and imports documents directly from the platforms that issued them.
Can teachers use documents they already have on iTeach.ro?
Yes. Teachers sign in to Portofoliu.digital with the same iTeach account, without a new registration, and can import on request course certificates, attestations, articles published in educational journals, open educational resources and DigCompEdu self-assessments. These go straight into the matching component, with their original dates. Other documents are uploaded, and the platform arranges them according to the structure required by the order.
How much does a digital portfolio cost?
Creating an account on Portofoliu.digital is free. The individual subscription, which covers version locking, sending and the evaluation package, costs 121 lei per school year (VAT included). Schools may also conclude a contract for their teaching staff. The price is public and the same for all users.
Is it secure, and how is a portfolio verified?
When the portfolio has to be presented, its owner locks a dated version, accompanied by a cryptographic fingerprint and a verification code. The version can be sent to an evaluator via a link, submitted to the school, or printed. The printed index carries a QR code through which anyone can confirm that the version exists and has not been altered, without seeing the documents. Documents imported from the iTeach ecosystem come directly from the source that issued them and are therefore authentic.
What happens to the portfolio when a teacher changes schools?
The order requires the digital portfolio to be transferable when a teacher moves to another school (Article 2(b)). On Portofoliu.digital, the account belongs to the teacher, not to the school, so the portfolio stays with the teacher at the new school.
What do schools need to do?
Every school with legal personality drafts its own procedure, approved by its board of directors (Article 13). The procedure sets out where and how portfolios are submitted, the submission and update schedule, who has access to them, how they are archived, and how they are integrated with the school’s digital platforms. A model procedure for the digital format (in Romanian) can be downloaded from the iTeach announcement on what Order No. 3858/2026 provides.
What should candidates for the 2027 certification examination know?
Registration for the national certification examination (definitivat), 2027 session, takes place at the school by 9 October 2026. The professional portfolio is assessed in the eliminatory stage of the examination, together with the two classroom inspections, and counts towards admission to the written test. The full timeline and the first steps are explained in the article on the certification portfolio, ready to complete from the iTeach account (in Romanian).
I am taking a didactic grade examination this year. Where do I build my portfolio for it?
In the same place as for any other evaluation: on the platform designated by the school or, if the school has not yet chosen one, on https://Portofoliu.digital, using an iTeach.ro account. A teacher keeps a single professional portfolio throughout their career, not a separate one for each examination. Under Article 4 of Order No. 3858/2026, it is also used in the examinations for didactic grades II and I. Before the inspection, the teacher locks a dated version and sends it to the inspector via a link, or prints it with the index and the QR verification code. Registration deadlines and the documents required for the application are set by the methodology for didactic grades and by the county school inspectorate. Many inspectorates collect applications in October, but teachers should check their own inspectorate’s instructions.
How can a school use digital portfolios for the annual performance evaluation?
The annual evaluation is one of the situations in which the portfolio is used (Article 4). The school’s own procedure (Article 13) sets the submission schedule and who has access to portfolios. In the digital format, each teacher locks a dated version of the portfolio by the set deadline and sends it to the evaluation committee via a link. Evaluators see every colleague’s documents organised in the same way, in the five sections of the order, with a dated index. They can confirm through the verification code that the version has not been altered since submission. Schools may conclude a contract covering all their teaching staff, so that they do not depend on individual subscriptions.
Can the portfolio be used for the merit grade (gradația de merit)?
Yes. The award of merit grades is one of the situations in which the professional portfolio is used (Article 4 of Order No. 3858/2026). The application for a merit grade is prepared according to the methodology and timeline of the competition, and the county school inspectorate specifies the documents required, including the form of copies. The portfolio, however, saves teachers from searching for evidence at the last minute: training certificates, articles published in journals with an ISSN, validated educational resources, projects and students’ results in competitions are already gathered and dated. Documents imported from the iTeach ecosystem can be verified online, and a locked version with a verification code shows exactly what the portfolio contained on the date of submission.
I already have a paper portfolio. Do I have to redo it?
No, if the school has chosen the paper format: the existing portfolio remains valid, provided it follows the structure in Annex 1 and has an updated, dated index. If you move to the digital format, you do not start from scratch. Documents issued on iTeach.ro are imported directly, and the others are scanned and uploaded with the date they were obtained. The platform arranges them chronologically in the sections of the order and generates the index automatically.
Where can I find more information?
- the in-depth analysis Developing and Managing the Teacher’s Professional Portfolio: iTeach Platform, on educatia-digitala.ro;
- the launch announcement of the Portofoliu.digital platform (in Romanian), on iTeach.ro;
- the platform itself: https://portofoliu.digital
Romanian version: https://educatia-digitala.ro/portofoliul-profesional-al-cadrului-didactic-in-format-digital-intrebari-si-raspunsuri/
