In committee Monday afternoon, Valérie Glatigny defended these measures “taken to control the budgetary situation of the FWB“, before specifying that” they are obviously not taken lightly, nor lightly, but they aim to refocus the teaching of young people of school age towards their emancipation and towards their certification“.
Strike by French-speaking teachers on November 26: “It is not classes, but entire schools that will have to close”
Return to the qualifying reform
The reform of qualifying education is one of the measures which anger the opposition and the teaching unions. As a reminder, this measure provides, among other things, to eliminate certain vocational education options with fewer than ten students per class, to avoid redundant and sometimes competing options between two schools close to each other, but also to redirect adult students who have dropped out towards adult education. Measures already included in the 2017 Pact of Excellence.
Martin Casier, group leader of the PS in the FWB parliament, denounced in La Libre on Monday morning this reform which would aggravate the problem of very acute school dropouts in Belgium. To this, Valérie Glatigny responds: “Cis actually quite the opposite“.
Cover this school dropout that we couldn’t see…
“In addition to clarifying the scope of training operators, the government is releasing 2 million euros in particular to improve the identification and monitoring of adult students who have dropped out and to strengthen support for young graduates in the job market.“, justifies the minister who also promises to supervise these students as part of her duties as Minister of Social Promotion Education. Valérie Glatigny specifies: “We will support them with specialized training operators (IFAPME, Forem, Actiris, etc.) rather than re-enrolling them in secondary 3 and 4 classes with 14 year olds who have different expectations.”
A promise that it also keeps for adult students holding a CESS (Higher Secondary Education Certificate) who will not, in the future, be able to re-enroll in the 7th technical or professional year, with exceptions.
Investing in the face of shortages
The lack of ambition in the fight against the shortage of teachers is also pointed out by the opposition and by representatives of the sector. The unions even speak of a loss of 500 jobs resulting from the elimination of options in qualifying education. The minister argues on the contrary that “the government invests 15.9 million in new policies, in particular to combat the shortage of teachers“.
“We have decided to increase the salaries of professionals (up to seven years) who wish to retrain for positions in shortage of education or to extend the replacement pools from 2 to 4 zones: in Brussels and Hainaut South, Namur and Luxembourg are now added”, she specifies.
Teacher shortage: why the diagnosis is wrong
According to her, the slogans of the unions talking about the loss of 500 jobs are “irresponsible“and aim to”scare the teachers“. She elaborates: “This is not a question of job losses, but of loss of hours for certain teachers. In a context of shortage, we are currently working on measures to ensure that teachers who lose a few hours find more time either in their school or in other schools, in particular through teacher mobility between teaching networks.“.
The end of nominations
If the teachers decided to strike this Tuesday, it is also partly out of fear of the disappearance of their status. A reform that the opposition is attacking because, counterintuitively, it will cost more money than it will bring in. An attack swept away by Valérie Glatigny. “The reflection carried out on the end of appointments was never intended as a solution to the budgetary situation of the FWB. Our desire is above all to stabilize young teachers in the profession and to work on the attractiveness of the profession.“
If these measures should be approved without too much surprise, this first strike movement under the Glatigny era could herald others according to professionals in the sector.
Qualifications, networks, employment, buildings…: what does the 2025 budget of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation really provide for in terms of education?
