摘要:AbstractThe recent PISA results show that our 16 years old students are the most demotivated for learning from all participant countries. We assume that one of the reasons is related to the learning experiences students are living at that age level (upper secondary). In the research inspiring this article (based on an extensive survey on high school students and teachers) we tried to investigate the perception of students and their teachers on what is and how should be organized an authentic learning experience and an authentic learning environment. As shown by the results, the learning experiences are perceived quite differently in many extents by the two key actors involved (learners and teachers). The paradox of living the same educational reality and working in the same environment, but having different, even contradictory opinions, perceptions and meanings of them seem to be one of the causes for deficits in academic achievement and in motivational level of the high schools students in Romania. Some preliminary results of the research are presented and analysed in the frame of a broader conceptual framework for understanding authentic learning.