Published on Eurydice (https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice)
2020
September update :
Covid 19 crisis : see Chapter 14 [1]
09/07/2020
As a result of an adjustment of federal legislation, compulsory education in Belgium begins from the age of 5 years old – instead of 6 – as of the school year 2020-2021.
With this measure, the federal government aims to ensure that all children have attended the kindergarten level for at least one year, to facilitate their adaptation to the primary education and making this transition as smooth as possible.
As a result, all children born in 2015 – hence turning 5 in 2020 and regardless of their actual birth month – are subject to compulsory schooling as of 1 September 2020. In concrete terms, compulsory schooling implies a regular attendance in kindergarten and in a full-time basis. Per principle, all absences must be documented by medical certificates, however, absences may be approved in certain cases – depending on specific school regulations.
March update :
20/02
On the proposal of the Minister of Education, the Government of the French Community approved, on first reading, the draft decree on the implementation of differentiation and personalised support systems in primary and secondary education. As a reminder, a pilot project was launched with a view to developing the most appropriate tools and methods for generalizing two periods of personalized support in the timetable of all pupils as part of the gradual implementation of the common core curriculum from September 2021.
In order to carry out the experiment, the schools benefit from additional resources and an evaluation of all the elements is carried out by a university research team. The Government decided to extend this pilot experiment for another year.
student performance while taking into account the needs of each individual and fighting school inequalities and repetition.
In concrete terms, for both primary and secondary education, the Government will continue to provide the resources in 2020-2021 to carry out these pilot experiments. For basic education, the aim will be to inject a further 1,500 class periods:
500 periods will be reserved for the schools enrolled in the project initiated in 2019, in order to ensure a follow-up and transition before the arrival of the Common Core in first and second primary. These schools will also benefit from the monitoring of 2 university researchers in order to continue the collection of information and to allow the
implementation of structural support within the framework of the common core ;
1,000 periods will be used to relaunch the pilot experiment in some fifty new schools, with an extension to basic skills, whereas previously only reading was targeted.
2019
September update : 15/05/2019
Signature of the Sectoral Education Protocol 2019/2020 : €25.5 million per year from 2020 and an improvement in the working conditions of all education personnel.
The Minister-President of the French Community and the Ministers of Compulsory Education and Higher Education and Social Advancement Education met with the social partners on 15 May 2019 as part of the signing of the sectoral education protocol for the period 2019/2020.
From a quantitative point of view, the Government has thus foreseen an amount of €6.9 million for 2019, which will be increased to €25.5 million per year from 2020 to meet several priorities of the social partners :
The progressive increase of the fixed part of the end-of-year bonus for all staff members, at all levels of education and all categories of staff combined -> €4 million in 2019 and €16.5 million per year from 2020 onwards.
Alignment of university doctoral scholarships with the amount of scholarships for FNRS candidates -> 600 000 euros in 2019 and 2 million euros per year from 2020.
The carrying out of a study aimed at objectifying the working time of compulsory and non-compulsory education staff -> 80 000 euros.
In addition, the Government is also proposing an innovative measure to address the shortage of teachers by improving the attractiveness of the position by stabilizing temporary teachers in their first year of service. 2.3 million euros will be allocated to it in 2019 and 7 million euros per year from 2020. In addition to these costly measures, the Government is formally committed to several qualitative measures requested by the social partners, including :
1. On the scale : Establishment of a working group to be responsible, by the time the next sectoral protocol is signed:
to define a new scale - between scales 301 and 501 - for future graduates of the new initial teacher education
the current framework of initial training and to scale 501 for teachers holding a master's degree in specialization.
to guarantee, in this context, a scale tension for headteachers. 2. For teachers :
Maintaining the current DPPR mechanism (prior to retirement) and strong defence of the maintenance of staff members' acquired pension rights.
Setting up tripartite working groups (trade unions, organising authorities and the
Government) on better taking into account the ageing of educational staff, improving their working conditions and certain types of leave such as medical and therapeutic half-time, etc. Removal of the age requirement of 55 years for a permanent appointment.
Etc.
3. For administrative and worker staff :
Establishment of working groups on the improvement of their working conditions, in particular as regards cut-off times, on a revision of the standards for the supervision of administrative staff, on the impact of a 4/5th time end of career, from the age of 60, with compensatory hiring,...
15/05/2019
More means to learn life-saving gestures in high schools.
On the proposal of the Minister of Education, the Government of the French Community took three decisions concerning the education and awareness project on life-saving actions in schools :
1. Ensure the sustainability of the project through an agreement protocol with Wallonia and Cocof: An agreement protocol was adopted to give a structural character to the cooperation between the French Community, Wallonia and Cocof in the field of promotion and awareness of life-saving measures. This protocol specifies the rules for collaboration between the entities and provides a long-term guarantee for the project. This is all the more important as expectations relating to awareness of life-saving actions will be included in the "physical education" references guides of the future Common Core.
2. Increase the means to support training and equipment provision : After a pilot phase of training physical education teachers in 10 schools in 2017/2018 (28 000 euros at the expense of the French Community) and a first call for projects launched in September 2018 (150 000 euros from the French Community, 75 000 euros from Wallonia on the proposal of the Minister of Health and 25 000 euros from Cocof), the Government decided to increase its structural participation to 300 000 euros annually. From 2019/2020, the total annual budget of this project will therefore be 400 000 euros. This strengthened effort will make it possible to train and equip all schools by 2023.
3. Launch the second call for projects for secondary schools : In order for schools to be able to prepare as well as possible for the next school year, the second call for projects will be launched for secondary schools of the French Community. 128 schools will be selected for the next school year. Unexpected cardiac arrest affects about 10 000 people in Belgium every year. In our country, the survival rate after cardiac arrest is far too low, about 10%. This is much lower than the survival rate encountered in some European countries.
Scientific studies clearly show that the best time for this type of learning (being receptive, being strong enough to practice cardiac massage, retaining long-term gestures, etc.) is between 12 and 18 years of age. The training of students by physical education teachers will be given at several times during the school year : 1st and 3rd year with a tool called Minipop (basic and inexpensive model) as well as a basic play defibrillator, and then in more depth in 5th or 6th year. Over the entire school years, this will
represent 10 hours of training integrated into the physical education lessons.
13/03/2019
Draft decree on the status of directors of pre-primary and primary schools
Since 2007, school principals have been required to complete training and a mandatory entry phase (‘stage’) for appointment. As of September 2019, the duration of training will increase from 120 hours to 180 hours, while the entry phase will increase from two to three years as part of the French Community’s Pact for Excellence in Teaching (Pacte pour un enseignement d’excellence). Following successful
evaluations during the entry phase, the candidate is appointed to principalship.
Training covers pedagogical, educational, administrative, financial and relational aspects and should provide principals with a portfolio of knowledge and skills. Since education in the French Community is organised in educational networks (public, government-aided public and government-aided private), half of the training is organised jointly for all networks, the other half for each specific network. Beginning
September 2019, the inter-network part comprises two axes: administration and steering (itself composed of a module on "educational vision and management" and a module on “the development of relational, interpersonal and group skills and aptitudes and the construction of professional identity").
The network‑specific part addresses issues specific to the network, in terms of its educational and pedagogical or educational and artistic project, its specific legal and administrative provisions as well as material and financial management. The network-specific part moreover includes time for coaching and induction (30 hours) to support the principal in different areas, for example, team work, time management, priority setting or the application of laws and regulations. Coaching and induction are provided by trainers without any hierarchical relationship during the three-year entry phase; may include exchanges with other school principals and a self-assessment to highlight strengths and areas for improvement.
April update :
13/02/2019 : On the proposal of the Minister for Children, the Government of the French Community approved a preliminary draft decree establishing a new general framework for health promotion in schools and in higher education outside universities. From now on, and for ease of reference, a single text will serve as the basis for the implementation of school health promotion programmes for
children and young people.
Health promotion in schools consists essentially of:
- the establishment of programmes for health promotion and the promotion of a healthy school environment;
- medical follow-up of students, including individual health checks and vaccination policy; - screening for communicable diseases;
- the establishment of a standardized collection of health data.
The adopted preliminary draft decree will merge the two existing decrees on health promotion into a single text.
€800,000 in recent years.
07/02/2019 : Decree on the reception, schooling and support of pupils who do not master the language in education organised or subsidised by the French Community
(https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/46275_000.pdf[2])
The decree aims to improve this related to the reception and schooling structures for newly arrived pupils voted in 2012.
Additional support is provided for newly arrived pupils, assimilated pupils and FLA (French as a learning language) pupils.
The FLA support system consists in particular in the organisation of periods of reinforcement, support or adaptation in order to strengthen and acquire knowledge and mastery of the language of
instruction and school culture.
A progressive integration is set up by the Integration Council for pupils enrolled in a DASPA in a year of study in the same school or in other schools. This integration can be organised at any time during the first 10 months in the DASPA.
From 1 September 2020, all teachers must have received specific training in the learning of French as a foreign language or as a language of schooling, including training in intercultural mediation during their initial training.
23/01/2019 : As part of the gradual implementation of the Pact for Excellence in Teaching, this decree (https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/45961_001.pdf[3]) specifies that the RCD
(Remediation-Consolidation- Excelling) system will be deployed in schools from September 2020, at the same pace as the common core. Two calls for pilot projects are therefore being developed in 2019, in pre-primary and primary education from January, and in September 2019 in secondary education, in order to test and develop concrete practices in schools.
In Opinion No. 3 of the Pact, it is specified that the RCD system, or "personalised support", while guaranteeing each pupil the same learning opportunities "allows for a differentiation of in-depth study of subjects which depends on the pace of each pupil in each subject, which is likely to support
motivation, interest and self-esteem". This system is a logical part of the fight against repetition and aims to respond immediately to the learning difficulties of some pupils, while allowing others to deepen/overtake their knowledge in relation to a personal project.
The system envisages three learning times, with corresponding differentiation strategies: in the classroom, in the weekly grid of all students and in times specifically devoted to students who need it. The pilot experiment also aims to collect data on a larger scale on differentiation practices observed in schools in the French Community.
The selection of pre-primary and primary schools is in progress. 85 schools will be supported. They will be granted 12 periods per 50 pupils enrolled in 3rd pre-primary education, 1st or 2nd primary education, dedicated to personalised support in connection with reading learning. The selected schools will collaborate with a team of researchers from universities and Hautes Ecoles (university colleges), and will also benefit from the support of an administrative support unit.
The budget for these various measures is part of the progressive implementation of resources dedicated to personalised support and amounts to 7,400,000 euros in 2019.
10/01/19 : Decree on the General Service of Inspection
(https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/46239_000.pdf[4])
19/12/2018 : On the proposal of the Minister of Education, the government adopted at first reading a code marking out the core curriculum in compulsory education and extending it by one year:
personalised support for each student.
This Code provides for an overall reduction of at least 50% in repetition by 2030 for all years of the core curriculum, thanks to more personalised support for students. This is an important step towards a school that allows each student to master all the basic skills.
The various parts of the Code will be inserted as the various decrees are adopted.
The core curriculum provides for a diversity of fields and disciplines so that the assimilation of basic learning results from a combination of theoretical knowledge, know-how and skills and their practical application. This approach makes it possible both to take into account the diversity of students' intelligence and to give meaning to theoretical learning by putting it at the service of practical achievements.
The student will follow his or her academic path throughout the core curriculum on a continuous basis. The Certificate of primary education (Certificat d'études de base = CEB) will always be awarded by the Class Council at the end of the 6th year of primary school. An external certification test is introduced at the end of the 3rd year of secondary education and will lead to the Common Core
Certificate (Certificat du Tronc Commun = CTC).
Two new periods of "personalized accompaniment" will be included in the schedule. During this period, additional teachers will reinforce the supervision to be able to better differentiate learning. As early as possible in the school year, the pedagogical team will define for each year the remediation or excelling measures. These systems will be regularly evaluated and readjusted by the pedagogical team, involving the student and his or her parents.
At the end of the school year, the teaching team may decide to keep a student in the year if the remedial measures put in place have not enabled the student to overcome his or her difficulties to continue learning in the following year.
Repetition will therefore never be prohibited, but it should only be used as a last resort. A very clear objective is aimed at by 2030: a 50% reduction in our repetition rate.
2018
December update : 23/10/2018 :
introduce the prohibition to require "optional fees" from the parents by adapting the current
legislative framework. On the one hand, it is a question of defining explicitly and in a limiting way the only school fees which will remain authorized and according to which modalities, and, on the other hand, to forbid any other request for payment of school fees to the parents of students.
This draft decree also aims at allocating to pre-primary schools a sum of money intended exclusively for the purchase of school supplies to compensate the fact that such expenses can no longer be claimed directly or indirectly from the parents of pupils. This will be a payment of a specific grant for the purchase and renewal of school supplies.
03/10/2018 : Complementary resources for students who do not speak French
The Government of the French Community approved at first reading a draft decree allowing to grant complementary resources to all schools that host pupils who do not master the language of
instruction. This decree now makes it possible to reach all pupils who encounter great difficulties in the language of instruction, whether they are newcomers or not.
A dual objective is pursued:
- Provide specific support for each student who does not master the language of learning ; - Improve the supervision of reception and schooling devices for newly arrived pupils (DASPA) according to the number of newly arrived students actually welcomed.
September update :
12/09/2018 : "Steering" decree voted in Parliament: an important step forward for the Pact
Steering plans are one of the pillars of the Pact of Excellence. This change is becoming a reality in schools : new steering service and new delegates (DCO).
This new management is based on objectives that the educational team gives itself. It promotes the autonomy of educational teams, which will target priorities related to the real life of their school, but also create a "school culture", improve the sense of belonging and take some teachers out of their isolation. It's about putting the whole school in motion, setting goals.
Instead of randomly controlling a teacher, coaching schools by the delegates will support the goals of the school as a whole. The directions and Controlling Authorities will make this change alive. It's sort of a "mini-pact" in every school.
1/3 of the schools have already been involved since September 2017 and the primary and specialized schools have received administrative help, to allow the directions to free up more time for teaching tasks and to manage their steering plan. A new series of schools is concerned at the beginning of September 2018 and all schools within a year.
In all cases, the diagnosis is local and respects the specific objectives of the school. The steering plan acts on 15 levers, which correspond to very concrete school realities: fight against failure and
remediation, fight against dropout, digital, infrastructure, external partnerships, relationship with parents...
18/07/2018 : Citizenship and fight against harassment: project’s funding.
On the proposal of the Minister of Education, the Government of the French Community approved the awarding of grants for projects to fight against (cyber) harassment and to promote citizenship in schools.
Since 2016, schools have been able to set up prevention and support mechanisms for (cyber) harassment in three areas: pupils’ training and peer mediation, awareness and prevention, student mobilization and clean prevention campaign.
Initiatives in citizenship education can come both from schools and external operators, who develop projects in schools, in areas such as environmental education, knowledge of the justice system, fight against school inequalities, reinforcement in certain areas of learning...
An overall budget of € 553 370.14 will be shared between schools and external operators. With this envelope, 54 (cyber) harassment and 27 citizenship projects will be run by schools. For their part, the external operators will receive financial support for 15 projects related to the organization of activities and 12 projects for the design of educational tools.
18/07/2018 : The Government modernizes the system of health promotion at school and in higher education apart from universities
On a proposal from the Minister for Childhood, the Government of the French Community adopted at first reading a draft decree on the promotion of health at school (PSE) and in higher education apart from universities.
Following the sixth state reform, some health-related competences were transferred to the communities, including the French Community. The promotion of health at school and in higher education apart from universities is one of them.
This draft decree aims at providing an undisputed legal basis for the approval and subsidization of these health promotion services by the National Childhood Office (Office national de l’Enfance) by specifying the legal framework of this scheme.
In concrete terms, the role of the health promotion services in schools is to :
- support the organizing authorities, school heads and teaching teams in the design, development and evaluation of activities related to the promotion of health ;
- ensure the visit of school buildings according to an evaluation grid related to hygiene, student safety and the promotion of a healthy environment ;
- promote educational tools, health promotion practices and work methodologies that can be used by school stakeholders to improve the health, safety and well-being of all ;
- enable students to appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes to take care of their own health. Moreover, during the last budgetary adjustment, the Government of the French Community allocated a budget of € 400 000 to support the operation of the health promotion services.
31/05/2018 : Call for projects about school reintegration - Youth Employment Initiative :
In order to fight against youth unemployment, the French Community is participating in the initiative "Guarantee for Youth", initiated by the European Commission. The call for projects "Moorings" is part of a desire to act quickly on the dropout of a young person and thus contribute to the reduction of dropout.
The aim is to provide specific follow-up and support to young people aged 15-24 who are absent, dropping out of school in the four areas most affected by youth unemployment: the Provinces of Hainaut, Namur, Luxembourg and the Brussels-Capital Region.
14/05/2018 : The Government approved a draft decree instituting experimental education at the 2nd and 3rd levels of secondary vocational education for certification by units of learning outcomes (CPU). From the 2018-2019 school year, several measures relating to the experimental framework for the implementation of certification profiles in the 4th, 5th and 6th technical and vocational years of ordinary secondary education and form 4 of specialized education will be applied.
April update : 14/03/2018 :
The Government adopted on second reading the draft decree establishing experimental education at the second and third levels of qualifying secondary education for the certification by units of learning outcomes (CPU), and second and third degrees of transitional education in respect to the exceeding of the maximum number of weekly periods, and laying down various provisions relating to compulsory education, the organization of the jury issuing the certificate of teaching skills, and the consultation with the organizing authorities and trade union organizations.
21/02/2018 : 30 million euros for the creation of new places within schools.
On the proposal of the Minister of Education, the Government of the French Community decided to grant 28 projects in all teaching networks allowing the creation of 5,386 new places (856 in primary education and 4,530 in secondary education).
This decision follows the first call for projects launched in 2017 as part of the new plan to create new places structurally and objectively in areas of demographic tension.
This plan will then provide an annual budget of 20 million euros awarded following a call for projects launched for the networks and the organizing authorities. This call is systematically based on a study of the administration, updated annually, estimating the needs of places.
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Source URL: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/national-reforms-school-education-5_en Links
[1] https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/national-policies/eurydice/content/ongoing-reforms-and-policy-developments-5_en [2] https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/46275_000.pdf
[3] https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/45961_001.pdf [4] https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/46239_000.pdf
