Assessment Of and For Learning in Higher Education: from the Traditional Summative Assessment to the More Emancipatory Formative and Educative Assessment

Abstract

This article examines the concepts of assessment “of” and “for” learning and their relationship with summative, formative and educative assessment. Aiming to identify the types of assessment used at the University of Porto in the last three years, during the transition period into the Bologna Process, questionnaires were employed to gather data from students and teachers. Surprisingly, comparing two programs (Integrated Master’s Programs in Engineering and Psychology), we conclude that the subject area of study does not interfere significantly with the respondents’ perceptions. SPSS was used for data analysis and, beyond other conclusions, we identified a transition phase in which different assessment methods coexist. However, summative assessment is no longer the only used or even the most commonly applied form of assessment. There is already a greater use of components of formative assessment. Nevertheless, formative and educative assessment methods with emancipatory characteristics are not yet consistently used.