300 more school staff for special-needs pupils
More funding has been allocated to hiring teachers and therapists to work with special-needs children following the implementation of the M decree
‘Special guidance’
The extra staff will be particularly focused on pre-schoolers with Down syndrome and primary school students with behavioural disorders. “There was a group of children who fell through the cracks, until now,” education minister Hilde Crevits told VRT. “It concerns children with special care needs, with severe behavioural disorders, who can have outbursts of anger in class and need special guidance.”
The funding will cover the employment of teachers, speech therapists and physical therapists. Schools will be required to form regional support networks to unite the expertise in their region. Through these networks, schools will work with parents, pupil support agencies and the special education sector.
The M decree saw some 4,000 children in Flanders mainstreamed into regular education. The extra staff will bring the total of new staff required to implement the M decree to 2,150 and the total budget to just over €107 million.
“My dream is that the care a child receives will no longer depend on the medical diagnosis,” said Crevits, “but on the real needs of the child, assessed together with pupil support agencies and parents in order to give them an optimal learning experience.”
Photo courtesy Pixabay
Educational system
million school-going children in 2013
million euros Flemish education budget for new school infrastructures in 2013
percent of boys leaving secondary school without a diploma
- Education in Flanders
- Secondary education reform
- European Encyclopaedia on National Education Systems
