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This paper reports on a practicum partnerships pilot project between local schools and a teacher preparation program in a medium sized regional university. Whilst addressing recent governmental recommendations for improvements in the teacher education practicum, the project also sought greater suitability by connecting the professional skills of experienced design technology practitioners to school capability requirements, and flexibility by moving from an established block time model to negotiation between school needs and part-time student availability. Despite some local success, the project raised questions of scalability and sustainability, and more significantly transferability to a fully online environment with geographically dispersed students. The findings have implications for providers of teacher-education programs as they seek to enhance graduate capabilities and respond to national accreditation pressures. [Cover title varies: "Piloting Teacher Education Practicum Partnerships: Teaching Alliances for Professional Practice (TAPP-Tas)."]

This paper describes a study undertaken within the education faculty of a mid-sized university in response to the recommendations of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) (2014) that initial teacher education (ITE) graduates emerge with an evidence-based professional standards-focused portfolio of teaching competency. In concluding that current teacher educator usage of, and attitudes to, ePortfolios limit the capacity of this particular faculty to respond to this challenge, the paper proposes three critical conditions to revitalise a stalled ePortfolio program and prepare for an increasingly demanding future. In sharing this experience, the paper seeks to support discussion of how teacher educators can respond best to the professional portfolio challenge in an environment of increasing regulation.