PL
The aim of the article is to present selected aspects of academic assessment as an element of a hidden curriculum. Based on the literature on the subject, the results of the research will be presented showing how the assessment system, deep rooted in educational environment, generates unplanned educational outcomes, including a surface approach to learning and various strategies of coping. Proposals of alternative solutions in evaluation procedures will be presented, involving active involvement of students in designing, managing and checking the effects of their own work. The new assessment culture should support the learning process and reduce the gap between the explicit and hidden curriculum.