Belgian Education system

The education system Belgian, such as it is currently conceived, is the result of the voted law the May 29th 1959, the school Pacte. This law defines two educational wide-area networks:

  • the official network, where the organizing capacity is a person of public law (generally the State, currently replaced by the three communities, or the Province or the common ).

  • the free network, where the organizing capacity is a person of private law. The free network is more or less structured into free denominational (with great majority Catholique) and free not-denominational (especially present in higher education).

The networks are strongly decentralized, as well on the level of the matters as of the recruitment of the personnel.

Since the federalisation of Belgium, the three communities are federate entities having competences in the curricular area, culture and other matter known as personnalisables. These communities have their own Parliament and their own government.

The school attendance is compulsory up to 18 years.

Recruitment and training of the teachers

Teachers of the nursery school

There is only one die of formation to become pre-school teacher nursery school/: the higher education of the short type, in the pre-school normal section. These studies are organized in a three years cycle and make it possible to obtain the pre-school title of teacher. Note: the graduates of the pre-school teacher training school can follow one year of additional formation to also be able to give course in primary school education.

Teachers of the elementary school

The teachers are trained in the teacher training schools, belonging to the teaching higher education of short type (three years), and which depend either on the official network, or of the free network. The organizing capacities recruit in the two types of school S. One returns, in theory, at the teacher training school after obtaining the certificate of higher secondary education or another title of comparable nature.

Teachers of the secondary school

an article detailing the Secondary education in Belgium

To teach in the secondary, the future professors must is to follow a Régendat (what only makes it possible the base to give course in the lower secondary), that is to say to follow academic works, by choosing the aggregation like option of their last year of the university course. However, the people not having taken this die could make this specialization by afterwards.

With his diploma out of pocket, the teacher must postulate for a station in one of the two networks. He does not have a place automatically and must deposit his Curriculum vitæ near an organizing capacity. It is thus frequent that outgoing either with the unemployment, or or engaged for one limited time in time in order to replace a titular teacher of a station.

Budget of the school

The Communautés of Belgium subsidize the whole of the teaching body (maternal, primary and secondary) whatever the network to which it belongs (official network, denominational free network or not) since the establishment is recognized officially. In connection with other expenditure (infrastructure, etc), each network ensures the financing of it as it can it. For the schools concerned with communal, for example, the budget of the local government agencies is high. One estimeà 17% the share allocated by the communes at the schools.

As teaching is officially free (until the end of the compulsory schooling is 18 years), the schools cannot require contribution to the parents.

Only the private schools (i.e., in Belgium, not subsidized) are financed on the contribution of the parents.

Inspections

A Belgian inspector is responsible for a canton. It is held, in certain communities, to twice visit the year the schools for which it is responsible. However, it does not note the teachers. It writes simply a report/ratio. The inspector thus does not have an influence on the advance of a career. Only the seniority determines the wages of the Belgian teachers.

Organization of the school

Organization of the nursery school

The nursery school is organized in three years not-obligatory. A recent debate proposes nevertheless that the third nursery school becomes it. These schools are very attended. The teachers nursery schools do not have the same diploma as those of the primary education. They are two distinct professions.

Organization of the elementary school

Primary school education is organized over 6 years, called first primary elections , second primary education , etc… At the end of each year, the pupils pass from the examinations determining if they are ready to pass to the higher year. After success of the 6th year, the pupils see themselves issuing a certificate of basic studies (CEB).

The pupils are gathered by class, and each class has a professor who is allotted to him. This last is charged to teach the whole of the matters defined in the program. Except the computer courses, of religion or morals, second language and sports which are in general exempted by qualified professors.

Organization of the secondary school

The Secondary education in Belgium is organized over 6 years, called first secondary , second secondary , etc… The sixth being still often called rhetoric (commonly called " rhéto") on a purely not-official basis, which constitutes an archaism.

The access to the secondary is not possible that for the pupils having the certificate of basic studies.

The pupils are gathered by class, and to each class a main teacher is allotted who follows the class (called " titulaire"). Each pupil is obliged to fill a " newspaper of classe" where it indicates the matter and the subject of the course (detailed), the holder often checks the newspaper of class of the pupils for which it is responsible, this newspaper of class can be checked by the inspector (the pupils are drawn with the fate) for the homologation of the diplomas.

Each course is exempted by a qualified professor, a class can thus have to the maximum as much of professor than different courses.

As from the 3rd year, teaching is subdivided into four " filières" :

  • General
  • Technical of transition
  • Technical from qualification
  • Professional

The main road to become professor in the first three years is to have a Régendat (diploma of aggregate of lower secondary education ), except for certain courses (data-processing, typewriting,…). The titular people of a diploma of higher education can also teach, but to be named, they will have to be titular of a teaching training certificate.

The three last years are exempted by graduates of the university education of second cycle at least, holders of an aggregate diploma of of higher secondary education . For lack of university degrees, the schools can have recourse to other teachers.

Direction of school

In the primary education, the directors are teachers who followed a specific training. In general, they have the load of the nursery school and the elementary one. They have an at the same time administrative and teaching role. They are thus free to control the work of their teachers, while attending sequences or by studying the book-newspapers (kinds of log books).

Programs and examinations

The programs of the school are defined by the common “bases of competences”. This translated the will to tend towards a pedagogy by objectives.

The objectives must be reached by the pupils, to spend one year to the other. The Belgian pupils spend each year an examination, organized by the school or the canton at the end of the cycle.

The debate on a baccalaureat is recurring in Belgium. Since 2007, a common test of end of 6th primary education is installation gradually in the French Community and thus must carry out from here 2009 with the generalization of a " minis-bac" at the end of the primary education in the French-speaking part of the country but for the remainder, there is thus no baccalaureat in Belgium.

On the relevance of this system, several theses clash in the teachers: the partisans explain that the pupils are accustomed to the examinations since the first primary elections, for the others it is an important source of stress.

See too

External bonds

  • Analysis of the evolution of the modes of regulation institutionalized in the education system of the French Community of Belgium per H. Draelants & C. Maroy

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