This overview of the literature on teaching, learning, and assessment was prepared to help develop a shared understanding by educators, researchers, and students to inform subsequent research conducted by the Scottish Council for Research in Education (SCRE) into the National Certificate in Scotland. Section 1 serves as an introduction to the paper. Section 2 reviews learning theories back to the time of Plato and Aristotle. Topics include: rationalism, associationism, constructivism, the cognitive information processing model, metacognition, and student-oriented approaches to understanding learning. Criticisms of each of these theories are provided. Section 3 reviews empirical work on teaching. The three strands identified in this area include: (1) attempts to reconcile the nature of the teaching process with the requirements of particular theories of learning; (2) attempts to impose descriptive categories on the process; and (3) examinations of teachers' own thinking about the teaching process. Section 4 offers an analysis of the norm-referenced and criterion-referenced traditions in assessment. Section 5 examines the ways teaching, learning, and assessment are treated in the literature concerning Scotland's Action Plan and the criterion-referenced National Certificate program. Section 6 outlines the role of this overview with regard to research proposed under the SCRE project. Five figures and a 46-item list of references are included. (SLD)