Flanders' education minister presents her five-year vision
The new education minister’s policy note includes improving the connection between school and work, a new entrance exam for teacher training, and a reduction of regulation for school staff
Minister to tour Flanders
In her policy note, “Building up education full of confidence and in dialogue”, Crevits presents her main strategies for the next five years. Every Flemish minister has to explain their vision in a policy note to the parliament and to the public. From 24 November, Crevits will tour the five Flemish provinces to clarify her plans to school directors.
One of the striking features of the policy note is that Crevits is focusing on improving the connection between education and the job market through werkplekleren (workplace learning). This means that students, especially those in professional and technical education, should gain more knowledge and practical experience by learning and working in a real-life work environment.
How the workplace learning will be implemented is not explained in detail in the policy note, but it’s certain that students will be widely encouraged to take up internships. Crevits says she will quickly appoint a Task Force for Internships, with representatives of education and business who should work together to develop concrete schemes. The legal framework for internships will be adjusted and the administrative procedures simplified.
She also wants to re-evaluate, with minister of work Philippe Muyters, the existing dual learning programmes in which students combine their studies with work. One example is the leertijd (learning time) programme, in which students follow classes at school one day and receive hands-on training at a business four days a week. At the beginning of the year, Flemish media reported that the system now attracts only about 3,000 students aged 15 and older, while that figure was as high as 7,000 a decade years ago.
Crevits is now bringing such programmes together in a fully fledged education trajectory, called Learning and Working. Concrete goals target the improvement of the screening of work-floor learning possibilities, result-driven financing and simpler regulations for participating enterprises.
More freedom for schools
At the end of the term of the previous education minister, Pascal Smet, influential leaders in the education sector criticised the level of teacher training and raised the need to thoroughly examine the knowledge of students interested in becoming teachers. Crevits is answering this call by promising an obligatory but non-binding entrance exam for students who want to start teacher training. If the results are positive, similar exams could be introduced for other disciplines in higher education.
Crevits will encourage primary schools to provide language initiation in English, French and Dutch
In her policy note, Crevits also stresses her appreciation for the work of school staff – teachers, directors and assistants – and says she is aware that they have to deal with challenging situations on a daily basis. To help, Crevits says she wants to combat all forms of undue red tape and exaggerated regulation which limit staff in their focus on core tasks. For example, she says that she wants to make the eindtermen – the final requirements for school-leavers – less specific so that schools have more freedom to develop their own policies.
However, she makes an exception for the eindtermen of English, French and German courses. These will be stricter and more ambitious, which means language exams in secondary education will become more difficult. Crevits will also encourage primary schools to provide language initiation in English, French and Dutch.
This plan was criticised by professor André Mottart, head of the education commission of teacher training at Ghent University, who felt it was time to update the eindtermen and examine which courses should be given priority. “We act as if French is still the second language in Flanders, but that is English today,” he told De Standaard. He said that French no longer played a big role in the daily lives of Flemings, except those living along the language border.
In its election memorandum in February, the Flemish Education Council (Vlor) advised making the infrastructure problems in the education sector a priority. “The capacity problem is so large and important that the next government cannot lose time and should immediately develop a long-term vision,” Vlor said at the time. Crevits has shown that she is aware of the urgency of the problem and will address the needs by developing a Master Plan for School Construction.
She also expressed her hope of creating one public education network that unites the current networks of the Flemish Community (Go!), the municipalities, cities and provinces. Although she cannot impose increased collaboration, she will make efforts to encourage schools from different networks to work together more.
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
