Learning to learn during COVID-19

School lock down has brought a great number of diversities that led to serious confusion in evaluating pupils. To maintain stability in education most coun­tries put off the exams for an indefinite period, in some, they have completely been removed, while in others they have been restored by prolonged evaluating or alternative techniques, such as online testing for final exams. Pupils’ achievement can be easily tracked of.

The next brief reference suggests the following 9 key recommendations to education establishments in Belarus on how to address the crisis.

1. Account for all staff and pupils, particularly those who were engaged in any mobility programs away from their home institutions, and support to the extent possible the return of staff and students to their home countries. While ensuring the continuity of teaching and learning is a key task, guidance and counseling need to be maintained during the crisis.

2. Share educational materials and resources among institutions. Many countries provide open-access resources; make sure they are known and available.

3. It’s better to take timely decisions on the academic calendar, grounded on epidemiological situation and accessible information. Address to them clearly, so that all of them understand you perfectly. At least, be prepared to reevaluate and adapt quickly to quickly developed changes.

4. Provide additional support to those pupils who are especially affected by the crisis, to the extent possible. Try to plan adjustable measures to bring students back in reality as soon as possible and help them not to fall behind. Governments are encouraged to ease requirements for course completion and extend pupil funding adjustment.

5. Institutions should stop dismissing their staff as long as it is reasonable. The end of the crisis will give a more acceptable moment to consider personnel needs. It might be difficult to bring back educators lost by institutions and academia in some circumstances.

6. Interact with present and potential international staff and pupils, take care of their special needs and where decisions cannot be taken right away, provide affability and ease decision-making. Countries are encouraged to extend visa arrangements. Institutions even want to consider some additional measures to support student learning efforts.

7. Resume pre-tertiary decision makers to find suitable solutions in countries where university access is based on exams. To ensure continuity of learning, it might be advisable to replace these exams with incessant rating or find a suitable online option, where the conditions permit, and ease access to these resources. Adoption to tertiary institutions will need to be altered to the new conditions.

8. Protect public financing for education. Reducing funding for teaching and learning, research, and innovation will maltreat post crisis economies in a hastily manner.

9. Arrange a moderate restarting, figuring the areas that would need to be examined at the earliest possibility, and studying the protection (such as masks and number of people in the building), would be rather helpful in speeding up the system of restarting.

From the very beginning of the epidemic, Belarusian teachers were immediately puzzled with achieving distance learning methods, however without any acceptable instruction, experience, or supplies. It happened at every level of edu­cation. Thus, teachers, as specialists, have moved to online and video practice, but it was too difficult for them to cope with the latest task. Web-enabled meetings and SMS means have become useful tools and new ways of communicating with their learners and the education society.

At least a big amount of teachers need psy­chological help themselves when they meet the demands of their students. If we don’t follow this advice, it may lead to the disastrous consequences. The crisis has been a sign of the fundamental role of teachers on the formation of the educational process.