2022
The overall vision update
The "Overall Vision - Shaping Education for the Future" lays the foundations for a sustainable and equitable education system in East Belgium. The aim of all efforts is both to improve the professional framework conditions for teachers and to promote the educational opportunities of the younger generation. In dialogue with regional education stakeholders and citizens, as well as with the support of external experts, the course is currently being set for the future of the education region of East Belgium. Within the framework of an intensive diagnosis, the current and future fields of action of the education system in East Belgium have been identified in recent months. Based on this, appropriate solution strategies are being developed. All findings will be incorporated into an implementation plan that will show the perspectives until 2030 and beyond. In 2020, a broad online survey and several discussion forums produced a comprehensive picture of opinions on the current strengths and challenges of the education system in East Belgium. Around 3,800 interested citizens and education stakeholders actively participated in this dialogue, which is a very high level of participation given the small size of East Belgium. Individual reform and pilot projects have been strengthened, continued or launched as a result. The surveyed opinion was supplemented by an expert view from outside. Using objective international comparative data, an interdisciplinary team from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) analysed how effective, efficient and equal opportunities the school system in East Belgium is. The OECD analysts also examined which successful solution strategies from other education systems can be transferred to East Belgium. Corona-related developments as well as results from previous working groups on service reform have also been included in the analysis. The report on the results will be presented in March 2022. Based on the OECD report and the feedback from the various education stakeholders (participation forums, online survey), a vision will be developed and concerted with the stakeholders in the course of 2022. Based on this vision, concrete measures for the implementation of the education strategy will then be derived. The master plan should be available by 2024.
Permanent contracts from the beginning of service for teachers :
In view of the European priorities to ensure the quality and safety of the teaching profession, the German-speaking Community is also working hard to improve the quality of its teachers and trainers.
And so, with the decree « sammeldekret » which presents new reforms in education and trainings: the coming school year teachers will receive a permanent employment contract from the beginning of their service, provided they have the required title and are appointed for at least one school year.
Such a measure does not exist anywhere in Belgium so far, partly because it is connected with time-consuming changes of legal texts. We are heralding a paradigm shift with the permanent contracts from the beginning of service, which will have a positive effect on the stability of the teams in our schools and thus facilitate school development processes. In addition, the recruitment effort will be reduced, as all those who are in order title-wise will no longer have to reapply, so that the school managements and sponsors will also be relieved and the bureaucratic effort will decrease. Last but not least, this is a measure to combat the shortage of teachers.
Of course, this measure does not only affect those entering the teaching profession, but also those already working in the teaching profession. For lateral entrants, however, the acquisition of a teaching qualification is a condition for enjoying a permanent contract from the beginning of service in the future. Meanwhile, an analysis will be conducted in order to evaluate and monitor this complex and extensive measure.
Quereinsteiger : career changers
Measures are in place to favour and encourage the introduction of careers changers.
Mentoring for new teachers and career changers
The German-speaking Community wants to make it easier for new teachers and career changers to enter the teaching profession. To this end, the pilot phase of a mentoring programme will start in September 2022 in primary and secondary schools. Mentoring is a proven staff development tool for involving new staff members in the ongoing school development process and integrating them in the best possible way.
Each new teacher will be assigned a mentor for the duration of one school year. The mentor acts as an advisor and guide. He/she shares his/her professional knowledge and experience with the newcomer. The mentor helps the newcomers to cope better with the demands of school and to integrate as well as possible into everyday school life.
The goals of mentoring and supporting new teachers are:
To develop professional behaviour from the very beginning
To support developing meaningful routines
To try keeping a long-term motivation
To stabilize and strengthen in crisis situations
To target the adoption of suitable school projects in the sense of using the innovative potential for school and teaching development
The German-speaking Community is also working on other measures like : Reforming the assessment and evaluation system in education, the increase of entry-level salaries by 10%, the increase of head teachers' salaries and the creation and modernisation of functions such as Middle managers, workshop managers, management secretaries or nursery assistants taken.
2021
IT officer
For the purpose of strengthening media education, the position of an IT officer is created in secondary schools. Each secondary school may organise one full-time position from the school year 2021-2022.
Duty of confidentiality and duty of discretion
Education staff responsible for support and counselling services in the elementary and school education sector": conversion of professional secrecy into a duty of discretion. In order to facilitate the flow of information between Kaleido East Belgium, staff members of the Time Out facility, the remedial education counsellors in a remedial primary and secondary school, as well as the school inspectors and school counsellor for inclusion and integration on the one hand, and the other staff members of the teaching department and the ZAWM on the other hand, the duty of confidentiality is introduced.
Henceforth, the professional secrecy to which, for example, the Kaleido staff member is subject no longer has to be shared with the staff member who is subject to the duty of discretion.
A "right to speak" is introduced for the staff member to whom professional secrecy applies in the performance of his or her duties, enabling the staff member to exchange views with a staff member who is subject to the duty of discretion, in the interests of the child's or young person's development. The duty of confidentiality that enables the right to speak arises from and confirms the existing professional secrecy.
Subsidies
The functional subsidies for free subsidised mainstream secondary education and part-time education are increased by 15%.
In addition, the possibility is created for the school board to claim 10% of the functional subsidies granted to its schools in order to redistribute them to the schools under its sponsorship that have the greatest financial need. Solidarity between the schools is intended to ensure that all schools of the independent sponsor can provide high-quality and time-adapted teaching under the most favourable material conditions possible.
2020
The decree of 22 June 2020 on educational measures 2020 has introduced numerous innovations in the field of education. The most important are briefly explained below
Compulsory education from 5 years
The reduction of compulsory schooling to five years means that from now on children of school age will attend kindergarten in both regular and special schools. Primary school attendance - also both regular and special schooling - is defined by the completion of the sixth year. By reducing compulsory schooling to five years, the possibility of home schooling is also extended to five-year-olds. The development goals to be achieved in kindergarten also apply to home schooling in these cases. These are to be taken up in the individual work plan to be drawn up for home schooling.
Dismissal of staff members due to negative evaluations
Previously, a definitively appointed or hired staff member was dismissed ex officio if he or she received an evaluation report marked "insufficient" for two consecutive school years. A staff member appointed or hired for an indefinite period was dismissed ex officio if he or she received an assessment report marked "unsatisfactory" and had already received a report marked "unsatisfactory" or "insufficient" in the previous school year. For reasons of quality assurance, this rule has now been applied to permanent staff members, so that both a staff member appointed or engaged for an indefinite period and a permanent staff member appointed or engaged will be dismissed in future if he or she receives an assessment or evaluation report marked "unsatisfactory" after having already received an assessment or evaluation report marked "unsatisfactory" or "inadequate" in the previous school year. If an assessment or evaluation report is marked "unsatisfactory" or "unsatisfactory", a new assessment or evaluation is automatically made the following year.
Adaptation of the conditions of access to the office of primary school principal
As it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract applicants to the post of headmaster in primary schools, the conditions for access to the post of headmaster will be relaxed so that all persons holding at least a first-degree university diploma (graduate/bachelor) will be eligible for the post. However, persons who hold the post of primary school headmaster and who do not have any pedagogical training will henceforth be required to complete an additional module in the specialised training for headmaster, so that they are also able to carry out teaching development with the appropriate background knowledge. The same requirement has been introduced for secondary school teachers without pedagogical training.
The pedagogical module covers the following subjects:
- Elementary knowledge of the educational system in the German-speaking Community
- Special features of the school organization
- General didactics
- Primary school didactics (for primary school teachers)
- Secondary school or subject didactics (for secondary school teachers)
School medical examinations of children and adolescents enrolled in home schooling
However, children and adolescents who receive homeschooling are currently exempt from this obligation. On the one hand, this constitutes unequal treatment and, on the other hand, prevents Kaleido from fulfilling its decreeally defined mission with these children and young people in the German-speaking community. The school medical examination should be carried out in the spirit of equal opportunities and equal treatment of all pupils, regardless of the form of instruction chosen by the legal guardians. The school medical examination is therefore made compulsory for children and adolescents from the age of six years who attend home schooling.
Keep on developing the measures implemented in 2018/2019.
The position of Chief Secretary in primary schools was created to provide mainly administrative support to primary school principals in their various tasks.
In June 2018, a new agreement was concluded with the school authorities on the "ostbelgische Schulen online" project, which aims to further optimise the preconditions for transmitting information and media literacy in all primary schools. Thus, teachers are invited to use in the preparation of their courses a reference framework for information and media education.