March 2009Dresden

DRESDEN

ANTWERP

Main Office Inspectorate of Education Flanders

http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/publicaties/?nr=120

Flanders in Belgium and Europe• Flanders lies in the northern part of Belgium. • Flanders has almost six million inhabitants.• Official language is Dutch.• Brussels = capital of Flanders + capital of Belgium.• Brussels is bilingual district

Belgium has 3 communities:•The Flemish, French and German-speaking community•Education is organised by the communities•Each community has its own educational system.Belgium has 3 districts:•Flanders•Walloon Provinces•Brussels Capital District

Belgium has a federal government + 3 district governments + 3 community governments. How many governments does

Belgium have? 6

Structure of education

Part-time arts education (DKO)

• DKO is a supplementary form of education aimed at children, young people and adults.

• Participants enroll voluntarily and pay an enrolment fee.

• Music / Dance / Word

Adult education

• More than 250,000 course participants

• The participants pay an enrolment fee

• Continuing education (lifelong learning) is provided in centres for adult education.

• Basic education focuses on all adults who need a basic training in order to fully participate in society.

Structure of secondary education

– mainstream secondary education

• general secondary education (ASO)• technical secondary education (TSO)• secondary arts education (KSO)• vocational secondary education (BSO)

! Waterfall system ASOTSO

BSO– special secondary education providing

4 types of education

Educational bodies

• Living apart together– GO! : schools financed and run by the Flemish community– OVSG: schools subsidized by Flemish community but run by a

city/municipality or a province.– VVKO: schools subsidized by Flemish community but run by the

catholic church– Independent schools. (Jewish schools, method schools, …)

• Each educational body has its own educational guidance service (support)

Curriculum

• Developmental objectives and attainment targets = core curriculum

– DO’s and AT’s of the Flemish Community: minimum expectations– Developmental objectives have to be pursued (nursery schools, special primary

education)– Attainment targets have to be reached (mainstream primary education)

• DO’s and AT’s for Dutch, maths, arts, religion, French, physical education, world orientation (history/geography/physics/…)

• Cross-curricular DO’s and AT’s: social skills, study skills, computer skills

Educational bodies (or schools) devise their own curriculum (provided the DO’s and AT’s are part of the curriculum).

Inspectorate accredits the curricula.

DO’s and AT’s !!

Quality control and quality promotion

3 basic principles:

– Autonomy

– Accountability

– Support

Autonomy

• Towards greater autonomy for school“Decisions have to be made at the level for which the decisions apply”

• Schools are responsible:– For the quality of the education they provide– For the curriculum (provided it contains the AT’s and DO’s)– For the evaluation of the pupils (no state exams)– For the pedagogical and didactical approach– For the safety and the well-being of the children– For the evaluation of the teachers– …..

Accountability

• Audits by the Inspectorate of education (every 6 to 8 years) inspectorate checks the implementation of attainment

targets and developmental objectives + looks at the processes

= mixture of control + advice

inspection reports available to the public (online) in case of shortcomings : school has to improve within

a given period of time (with the help of the educational guidance service)

Processes

Processes are looked at from 6 different angles:1. Support – how does the school support its processes?2. Effects – how does the school make its processes as effective

(goal-oriented) as possible?3. Development – how does the school try to develop its own

processes?4. Accountability – how does the school account for the effectivess

of its processes? 5. Internal evaluation – how does the school evaluate its own

processes?6. External evaluation – what does the school do with the results of

external audits?

Inspectors also focus on a limited number of processes in a school.

CONTEXT

INPUT

PROCESSES

GENERAL

leadership vision decision making quality Assurance Self-

evaluation Quality

manangement system

STAFF

HRM organisation evaluation

Support new teachers professionalisation of

staff

Exams

OUTPUT

LOGISTICS

Management of logistics infrastructure equipment Financial means Safety and well-being health hygiene environment safety

EDUCATION

curriculum

Organising/planning the education Contents of the education

Pupil’s guidance

External vs internal guidance Guidance of learning capacities social and emotional guidance sociale en emotionele begeleiding

evaluation

practice of evaluating pupils reporting

School career of

pupils

outcomes

Satisfaction

pupils staff other

stakeholders

identification coordinates type of school

Legislative framework General legislation Specific legislation

history Changes in management Changes in structure

Site Buildings / area situated characteristics of surrounding

area

personnel Pupils characteristics

Support

• By the educational guidance services (educational bodies)

• By the CLB’s (pupil guidance centres): a service consulted by pupils, parents, teachers and school management teams for information or help.

• learning and studying• the school career• preventive health care• social and emotional development.

• By the inspectorate ?? (thin line between support/advice and accountability)

• By their own system of quality management.

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Inspectors' view Teachers' view

autonomy

accountability

support

Balance autonomy / accountability / support

Conclusion

• Strenghts– Autonomy – schools make their own choices (context

and input related)– Inspectorate takes context and input into account– External audit as an obligation (control) or an

opportunity (advice) for schools to improve

• Weaknesses– Autonomy – can schools cope with it? – Accountability – external audit leads to window-

dressing– Schools do not always get the support they want

Opportunities

1. More collaboration between inspectorate and guidance services (accountability + support) – !! New agency “Quality of education”

2. Supporting the managerial capacities of schools by focusing on processes. (support + autonomy)

3. Being aware that every school is different because of context and input (accountability + autonomy)

Threats

1. Accountability - schools will focus on output in stead of processes. Only the results matter

2. External audits (inspections) will only deal with accountability.

3. Inspectors, counsellors, advisers, consultants, ….. will stay out of the classroom and only deal with ‘paperwork’.

Thanks for your attention – greetings from Flanders/Belgium