Children returning to special education despite mainstream decree
The government is to allocate more funding after almost 1,300 pupils moved from regular schools back to special education between October 2016 and February 2017
‘Reality check’
The report in De Morgen is based on registration figures from the education ministry comparing 1 October 2024 and 1 February 2017. In total, 1,270 students in pre-school, primary school and secondary education returned to special education in this period.
In the first half of the 2015-16 school year, the first year after the M decree was introduced, there was a return movement, but it was much smaller, with about 320 students moving back to special education. According to Wim Van den Broeck of the Free University of Brussels (VUB), this is a “reality check” for the M decree.
Stefan Grielens, director of the pupil support agency network VCLB, suggests two possible causes. Many parents expected more support in regular education and moved their child when this support didn’t meet their expectations. Another group of children were registered in a regular school with certain conditions put forward by the school. They could easily go back to special education if these conditions were not fulfilled and the child was unable to adjust.
Grielens says the government will be allocating more resources to regular schools next year to help them provide better support for children with special educational needs.
Photo courtesy Klasse.be
