The main factors of education system functioning during the pandemic

Based on Lithuanian expirience One year after the beginning of the pandemic, we can conclude that the main factors of education system functioning during the pandemic is social partnership, agreements, communication, trust and monitoring. Lithuania, a country with a population of about 2.8 million in 2019 - 2020, there were 1,056 general schools in Lithuania, with 326,677 pupils and 28,599 pedagogical and administrative staff. (Statistical yearbook of Lithuania: Education, 2020). Indeed, practice and research shows that distance learning will never replace the quality of contact learning. I would like to emphasize a few aspects, but perhaps most importantly, the roles of all those involved in the educational process have changed. No one was prepared for the pandemic, and urgent solutions covering the entire education system were needed in the face of it. No one knew what the right solutions would be. It was difficult to chose the best decisions and predict the consequences, as no country had such a large-scale distance learning experience, no research was carried out, and even reliable data on the IT infrastructure and digital literacy levels of schools and pupils were lacking. Therefore, we decided to involve stakeholders in the decision-making process: the school leaders 'association, the school leaders' union, the teachers 'union, the students' union, the municipal association and so on. Assuming that stakeholders play an active role in the decision-making process, at least in part, will fulfill the need for evidence-based policies, a function of policy openness, public awareness and, at the same time, responsibility and control for decisions taken together. We tried to coordinate solutions with them as much as possible. Of course, due to tensions and very limited time, it was difficult to find compromises, on the other hand, stakeholders did not have enough time to discuss solutions with the wider group. However, the involvement of stakeholders still led to more informed decisions that were more acceptable to the educational community. The main questions that caused the most tension were: opening schools after quarantine, organizing maturity exams, safety requirements for schools working in a contact way, availability and quality assurance of digital content, and so on. Speaking about the influence on the public nature of the education system I would like to stress, that since education should be treated as a public good the state must ensure access to quality education for all, regardless of the form in which it takes place. In Lithuania, additional funding was provided for schools to purchase; 1. Equipment, 2. Digital content 3. Digital literacy training for teachers. It should also be emphasized that, in addition to private providers of digital content and platforms, the National Education Agency has set up its own platform to offer and continuously update free digital content available to all. Another one problematic question is that in Lithuania, the results of maturity exams are used for admission to higher education institutions. Therefore, questions about the organization of maturity exams cause a lot of tension for students, schools and parents. In this situation, those states and their graduates who have a cumulative assessment of maturity, which does not end only with exams, felt more favorable. - Of course, the possibility of organizing exams online is being discussed, but this requires special infrastructure and a lot of investment; - We agreed, that exam tasks do not include those topics that required practical training; - additional funding is provided for consultations for graduates; - the Examination Assessment Commission may, if necessary, revise the examination assessment criteria; - currently, curricula are being updated in Lithuania and the assessment system is being reviewed. In such emergencies, it would be useful for school completion to be based on cumulative assessment. However, our most urgent task today is to compensate educational losses caused by the pandemic for all levels of education. We have agreed to provide special learning conditions for learners from vulnerable groups. Distance education for them is assured at the school premises with the assistance of education support specialists even when schools remain closed for all other learners. We have also agreed to organise summer schools for those in need/[who would otherwise find it difficult to catch up and continue the following school year.