core-issues-in-assessing-students-in-the-context-of-force-majeure 2025 6 This research paper aims to examine and address core challenges faced by
teachers in assessing students in the context of force majure, such as the
COVID-19 pandemic, within the Kosovo education system, a period in which
the rules for student assessment had either been changed or imposed
by central government directives. As an unprecedented global crisis, the
pandemic disrupted life in all aspects; this was a new period everyone
was obliged to live in, and the pandemic unfortunately affected life in
all its aspects. Education, a fundamental pillar and source of societal
development, was caught largely unprepared to handle the teaching
system at all levels, and to shift to remote format of teaching classes,
handling homework, exercises, and assessments. This study investigates
why student evaluation is pedagogically critical, how English teachers
in Kosovo high schools navigated assessment during remote, and which
methods they employed under pandemic conditions. As with any similar
crisis and force majeure situation, the long-term consequences of this
period are likely to extend far beyond initial expectations.
Findings indicate that, despite the extraordinary and highly unnatural
circumstances, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and
Innovation (MESTI) in Kosovo managed, in a short time, to organise
remote teaching via TV channels, Zoom, Teams, and Google Classroom.
Such management was considered a success, as it eased teachers’ work
and their interactions with students. However, when it came to student
assessment, the entire system was subject to centrally provided instructions
from the Government, which dictated the assessment methods
and their outcomes. Some of the respondents have claimed that during
this period they “were expected to grant only positive grades” and
that “the final grade had to be the same or not lower than the existing
grade granted before March 11 (MESTI, 2020). For many teachers, such
directives conflicted with fundamental principles of fair assessment.

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]]> assessment, pandemic, formative method, remote learning, English teacher https://ijep.ibupress.com/articles/core-issues-in-assessing-students-in-the-context-of-force-majeure