This paper is part of a wider research project entitled “Assessment, Teaching And Learning In The Portuguese And Brazilian Higher Education: Realities And Perspectives” (AVENA Project, funded by Foundation for Science and Technology; project reference PTDC/CPE-CED/114318/2009). This project is based on the assumption that teachers’ knowledge, conceptions and experience are related to the way they organize the teaching and the assessment. The research carried out highlights the role that teaching and assessment can play in learning improvement (e.g. Stiggins, 2004; Figari & Achouche, 2001). In particular, Black & Wiliam (1998) emphasized three results of broad scope and great significance: a) the systematic practice of formative assessment substantially improves students’ learning; b) the students who most benefit from formative assessment are those that have more learning difficulties; and c) the students that attend lessons in which formative assessment is predominant obtain better results in external assessment exams. The publication of the Black & Wiliam text (1998) led to the resumption of empirical research and theoretical construction based on renewed epistemological visions, in new developments of learning and curricular theories and a variety of contributions such as those coming from sociology, the cognition sciences, anthropology and communication theories (e.g. Black & Wiliam, 2006; Gardner, 2006; Harlen, 2006; Stiggins & Chappuis, 2005; Gipps & Stobart, 2003). But what can one say of solid foundation, based on the empirical research and theoretical reflection that has been produced in recent years? Essentially, the literature enables research and development areas to be highlighted such as: a) consolidating a theory of formative assessment that can back up and support the classroom practices; b) describing and analyzing assessment and teaching practices that are implemented in real classrooms, with real students, relating them to their academic success; c) articulating the learning, the teaching and the assessment; d) understanding the relationships between learning, teaching and assessment, making the classroom and all of its complexity the unit of analysis, instead of the teacher or the students individually; and e) understanding the relationships between formative assessment and summative assessment as well as their practical implications. Some overviews of the literature and other work carried out in Portugal and Brazil show that in these countries there is a considerable amount of research about learning and assessment in non-higher education contexts (e.g. Fernandes, 2009, 2006; Esteban, 2003; Hoffmann, 1998). However, the research at the higher education level carried out in the two countries is still threadbare, taking into account the need to understand a set of critical issues that help to improve what and how the students learn. Regarding this state of the art, our research project main question was: How can the systems of teachers and students’ conceptions with regard to teaching, learning and assessment be characterized? Therefore, the overriding aim of the research was to describe, analyze and interpret the teaching and assessment practices carried out in different Portuguese and Brazilian Universities and Courses. This paper analyzes, specifically, the perspectives and practices of teachers and students regarding assessment processes, concerning two Courses of the University of Minho (Portugal), in the field of Social Sciences: Degree in Education and Master in Psychology and data collection took place in two Subjects, one of each Course. The data analysis resulted in an integrated narrative, so our aim in this paper is to present some of the obtained results, framed in the context of the broader AVENA Project.

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