The majority of final dismissals concern young people in secondary school (1,781) but the age of the student is decreasing. “We have more and more exclusions in primary school and even from kindergarten! It happens more prematurely”points out Chantal Massaer. Recently, Fapéo (Federation of Parents and Parent Associations of Official Education) was contacted by parents of a student excluded from primary school.
The zonal registration commission is moving in the same direction. “10 years ago, we had two to three exclusions per year in basic education. Now, we are at around ten per year. This increase is in no way comparable with secondary education where we have around a hundred exclusions each year.”specifies Alain Dehaene, director for Catholic basic education Brussels-Walloon Brabant. “One of the explanations may be found in the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream education, which is complicated.”
Exam
InforJeunes Laeken has handled several cases of students requesting reasonable accommodations. “We are looking for minor disciplinary facts to expel the child. We have a 6 year old diagnosed with ADHD who could be pushed outside. Another 17-year-old girl has a chronic illness that makes her very tired. The school did not want to follow reasonable accommodations and used an incident with another student to exclude him.”continues Chantal Massaer.
“A sort of social segregation”: too many students from working-class backgrounds are improperly directed towards specialized education
Another trend that worries the director: the timing chosen to exclude the child. “We have two cases where on the first day of the start of the school year, the school initiated an exclusion procedure for minor facts.she points out. “The expulsion is increasingly concomitant with the exams: the idea is that the student cannot re-register. This often happens in preparation for CE1D (exams in secondary 2, Editor’s note)which creates enormous stress and great difficulty in defending the student because we must have the evidence and the child is in revision. This is the 2nd year we’ve seen this trend.”
“The desire of the Minister of Education Valérie Glatigny to restore the authority of the teacher or the establishment of an external appeals chamber in August 2025 ?” InforJeunes Laeken does not know what explains this increase in exclusions.
