Assessment stakes and authenticity of learning, can they be reconciled?

In their great editorial “does authentic assessment undermine authentic learning?”, Hatala and Ellaway (2024) touched on some very important issues around the tension between learning and assessment. This tension is undeniable and not easy to navigate. In this commentary, we want to offer some of our considerations and experiences around this tension, not with the intent to contradict the assertions in the editorial, but to add perspectives. As an opening position, we see ‘formative assessment’ and ‘assessment for learning’ as quite distinct principles. For example, the word “formative” does not appear at all in the paper on assessment for learning by Schuwirth and Van der Vleuten (2011).