The plan would scrap the current method of "tracking" - dividing secondary students into various streams of study: traditional academic (ASO); technical (TSO); business- and work-oriented studies (BSO); and a fourth branch of cultural and artistic studies (KSO), which accounts for only a small percentage of secondary students.

Instead, Smet intends to introduce a first year that's broadly the same for all, leading to a third year in which further study choices are phased in. Some would be
work-oriented and others geared towards higher education. Students would be able to select a mixture instead of being forced into one unwavering track as at present.

"All students should be allowed to develop their talents to the full," Smet said, adding that the current system is weighted down with "social prejudice," with TSO and especially BSO often seen as inferior to ASO. Thus a student who might be more suited to a BSO education might be forced out of prejudice into an ASO stream, despite it being unsuitable for the student's talents.

In the new proposed system, all students would follow 12 subjects in the first year, narrowing it down in the second year. In the third year, each student would select two "interest areas" from six in the scientific, languate, business and arts fields. The interest areas would, the plan says, offer a wide-ranging view of aspects of society, allowing students to become acquainted with diverse themes.

The proposal was welcomed by Chris Smits, secretary-general of Catholic secondary education. The minister, he said, had presented a valid analysis of the problems of Flemish education, such as the consequences of a mistaken study choice.

For Raymonda Verdyck, managing director of community education, the Smet proposal comes very close to what her organisation has been advocating. The reform would allow students in the first and second years to sample from a broad range of areas, allowing them to make a more informed choice later.

Flemish liberal party Open VLD even argued that Smet had not gone far enough and expressed fears that the reform would take too long. The Smet proposal would begin to come into effect in 2014.