The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly changed the conditions of working and studying. It was mandatory in Lithuania to adhere to a personal isolation to protect yourself from the threatening spread of the virus in March–April 2020. Then schools, universities, vocational training centres, kindergartens and other educational institutions quickly adapted to the changed working conditions and switched to the provision of distance learning services. The aim of this article is to analyse the challenges faced by school communities in the transition to distance learning, and to provide good practice examples and insights for improvement. The survey was conducted using the School Barometer method.

The Bologna process in Belarus has brought new challenges to Higher Education (HE) institutions in the country. HE sector in Belarus has been undergoing the transformational process from the traditional to new modes of learning. This article presents the survey data of Erasmus + KA2 programme project “Fostering Competencies Development in Belarusian Higher Education – FOSTERC” on the issue of learning modes in Belarusian HE and student learning outcomes. It also discusses the possibilities of encouraging competency-based education in Belarus by fostering mobility of HE teachers and HE students and HE graduates internships.