Types of institutions

According to the law (the Educational Pact law), the Communities are obligated to ensure parents the freedom to choose the education for their children. The law distinguishes between denominational, non-denominational and pluralistic schools. The latter have not yet been organised.

CES schools normally have to accept all pupils and OSES schools have to accept all pupils from the municipality in which it is located, as well as those from a neighbouring municipality if it is the nearest school for the pupil; CSES schools may only reject a pupil's enrolment if the pupil's parent/guardian is not prepared to accept the school's educational project.

Geographical accessibility

Secondary schools in the GC are divided over four of the nine municipalities in the GC. Emphasis is placed mainly on the secondary schools in Eupen (3) and in Sank-Vith (4); general secondary schools can be found in Kelmis and in Büllingen. This, therefore, guarantees that every youth in the GC attends either a secondary school in their or the neighbouring municipality. As parents and pupils are free to choose the school, no pupil can be forced to attend the nearest secondary school.

Admission requirements and choice of school

Admission requirements for secondary school (1st level)

The pupils that have been awarded a leaving certificate at the end of their primary school education automatically receive enrolment to the 1st level of secondary school (observation level) and are normally enrolled in the 1st A-level.

Pupils that have attended their 6th school year in primary school but did not receive a leaving certificate can be enrolled in the first A year of the observation level, as long as they have permission from their parent(s) and a positive referral from both the Psycho-Medical Social Centre (PMS) and the Admissions Board; otherwise, they will be enrolled in the 1st B-level, along with pupils that have not reached their 6th primary school year, but are already 12 years old and still have not yet been awarded the primary school leaving certificate. The primary school leaving certificate can also be awarded after the first secondary school year.

Admission requirements for a field of study in the 2nd level of transitional education

• To be allowed to enrol in a field of study at orientation level (2nd Level) in transitional education, the pupil must have already successfully completed the 2nd common year of the 1st level.
• Currently, it is also possible for a pupil that has successfully completed the 3rd year of vocational education (qualification education) to switch to a transitional education field of study and can start their education from that point, i.e. from the 3rd year on. However, a positive referral from the Admissions Board is required for this.

Admission requirement for a field of study in the 3rd level of transitional education.

Pupils that have successfully completed the 4th year of general education or technical transitional education moves up to the 3rd level (5th year) of the same stream.

Age levels and grouping of pupils

The lower level of all secondary schools (1st level or observation level) builds upon the knowledge and skills learned in the common primary school and provides all pupils with an extended general education. This includes years 7 and 8, i.e. pupils between the ages of 12 and 14. The pupils are taught in year groups by about eight to ten teachers who are responsible for one, two or three subjects depending on their qualification. The teachers also teach the same year group and/or in classes of different years in parallel classes. They often stay with the same classes for a number of years.

The situation is similar in the upper level of the secondary school for pupils between the ages of 14 and 18 years (although there are many students that are older than most of their class mates): despite the level structures and curricula that are formulated depending on the level, teaching is still done in year groups. Assessment is continuous - e.g. two tests per subject per school year - and the decision about progression to the next year is determined by the governing body. Before this, real level pedagogy is not applied very often.

There is no official recommendation or standard regarding class size. The class structure is decided by the head teacher and the Pedagogical Council. It is dependent on the number of lesson (lesson capital) with which the teachers are able to be hired. The lesson capital of a school is dependent on the number of pupils. The school has the right to freely enact hour capital due to their autonomy. Generally, the number of pupils is between 22 and 30 in the mandatory subjects. In elective subjects, it is normally much lower - especially in the upper level - fewer than 10.

Differentiating educational programmes

In the lower level of secondary school (1st level or observation level), educational programmes are the same for all pupils (a basic education of 24/25 lessons per week + extra-curricular activities and/or project activities during 8/7 lessons per week) and mainly have a general educational character. Its main function is to prepare students for the upper level of the secondary school. The only exception is the separate 1st level, in which 12-year old (or older) primary school pupils are first enrolled in an orientation class ("1st B-level") without a primary school leaving certificate, so as to help them develop social skills guide them through an educational programme that is better suited to their weaknesses and differentiated methods for better mastering basic knowledge of language, reading, writing and arithmetic, and to better prepare them in a 2nd B class for vocational education courses in the upper level of secondary school.

The pupil is also permitted to select from a combination of elective subjects provided by their secondary school in the upper level in addition to the mandatory subjects (23 to 31 lessons per week including the mandatory subjects of Maths and Natural Sciences where the students are divided into sets based on their ability) that are most relevant to their individual specialisation. The elective programme can vary slightly from school to school. There are different elective combinations and thus, no self-contained departments in general education. Most pupils select Economics - Languages, Natural Sciences - Mathematic, Social Sciences or Modern Languages (German + three foreign languages) as a specialisation.

Organisation of the school year

The government of the German-speaking Community determines the beginning and end of the school year and the dates of the school-free days for every school year. School authorities have 6 school-free half days for administering further education or pedagogical conference days to the teachers. In the German-speaking Community, the school year officially starts on 1 September (technically, it starts on the first work day of September) and ends on 30 June (technically, on the last work day of June) of the next calendar year. Along with the two-month summer holidays (from 1 July to 31 August), students (and teachers) have two weeks winter holiday (the weeks of Christmas and New Year's Day), two weeks spring holiday (Easter holidays), and two one-week holidays (around 1 November and following Carnival). One school year must comprise between 180 and 184 school days, 182 days on average. The following days are holidays (thus, also school-free) in the German-speaking Community: Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension Day, Pentecost Monday, 1 November, 11 November, 15 November (the official holiday of the German-speaking Community).

Organisation of the school day and week

The school week comprises 5 days. In secondary schools, lessons take place five mornings a week (from Monday to Friday) and four afternoons a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday). Mornings are divided up into five lessons; afternoons are divided into three lessons. That results in a weekly schedule of 37 lessons. In the lower level of secondary school (1st level), the pupils generally attend an average of 33 lessons per week; in the upper level (2nd and 3rd level), the average is 34 lessons. With the help of the Pedagogical Council and after consulting with the parent association, the head teacher determines when classes begin and end, though it must be between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. In most cases, classes run from 8:15 a.m. to 12:35 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is a break for about 10 minutes in the morning between the second and third lesson. The lunch break is about one hour. Most pupils remain at school during the lunch break and can eat a warm lunch in the school cafeteria. Because some busses that provide school transportation have early arrival times and late departure times, some schools – especially secondary schools – last 8 hours a day for four days of the week. Special supervised homework is not provided after school hours. However, homework can be done in the school during the "gap lessons" (=free hours in the pupil's schedule). As some of the busses arrive very early in the morning, pupils can enter the school as of about 7:30 am. Private after-school tutoring until 6 p.m. has been arranged in some places in the last few years.

School day

NB : In addition to the Royal decree of 29 June 1984 on the organisation of secondary education, the decree of 5 June 1990 on the determination of the number of class hours/instructors in full-time education is of great importance for full-time secondary education. This decree determines how the number of lessons (lesson capital) of a secondary school is calculated based on the number of pupils. This calculation enables schools to organise their courses, to calculate the number of teaching positions required and to hire the teaching staff.