Ursprung
Documentatiecentrum Vlaamse Rand, Rand-ABC-fiche, oktober 2015
Organisation
Documentatiecentrum Vlaamse Rand
Jahr
2015
Sprache
ENG
Introduction
The 1932 language laws introduced the 'regional language = teaching language' principle. However, since the introduction of the facilities in 1963, the municipalities with language facilities have been under obligation to organise pre-school and primary education in the other national language if such is requested by at least 16 heads of household. The 6 peripheral municipalities that offer language facilities are currently home to 8 French-language elementary schools, scattered across 10 educational establishments. Every municipality has its own municipal school, with Sint-Genesius-Rode and Wezembeek-Oppem also home to a so-called 'free school' (meaning a school operating as part of the "free", i.e. private (Catholic) grant-maintained education system).1
It has been enshrined in the the law on the use of languages in administrative affairs that, from grade 3, Dutch is to be taught at these French-language elementary schools at a rate of 4 hours a week in grades 3 and 4 and 8 hours a week in grades 5 and 6.
Pupil numbers at French-language elementary schools
| 1/2/2011 | 1/2/2012 | 1/2/2013 | 1/2/2014 | |
| Drogenbos | 196 | 211 | 224 | 238 |
| Kraainem | 356 | 393 | 384 | 364 |
| Linkebeek | 183 | 166 | 169 | 167 |
| Sint-Genesius-Rode | 652 | 609 | 629 | 609 |
| Wemmel | 676 | 684 | 708 | 716 |
| Wezembeek-Oppem | 800 | 807 | 810 | 829 |
| Total | 2.863 | 2.870 | 2.924 | 2.923 |
SOURCE : Flemish Periphery Book of Statistics (figures from 2004 forward)
These schools admit only pupils whose first language is French and who live in one of these 6 municipalities. The verification of these elements (the so-called language inspections) comes under the federal government. The schools are funded by the Flemish Community. The educational inspections in turn are conducted by the French Community, as agreed in the 1970s between the then French-speaking and Flemish Ministers of Education (which were still jointly administered under the Belgian Government at the time).
Battle for Authority
In 1996, the Flemish Parliament requested the Government of Flanders to amend these protocols, which it believed to be counter to the Constitution. Although the Belgian Constitution ensured the right to such education, it also set out that only the Flemish Community is qualified for education in Flanders. The Flemish Parliament wanted to be able to exercise control over the schools for which it was financially responsible. On the French-language side, the objection asserted was that the money comes from a federal allocation. However, this holds true for just about the entire Flemish budget. As is the case for all other schools across the country, the allocation for the 8 schools in question is determined based on pupil headcounts.
Ten years of negotiations between the Flemish- and French-language Ministers of Education failed to yield any results. Flanders subsequently petitioned the Council of State to deliver an opinion, but this Court felt that this was a matter for the Court of Arbitration (now the Constitutional Court). In order to get the Court of Arbitration to deliver a ruling, the Flemish Parliament first had to adopt a Flemish Parliament Act.
On 17 December 2007, the Education Committee of the Flemish Parliament unanimously adopted a draft Flemish Parliament Bill . During the vote at the Flemish Parliament on 23 October 2009 too, the so-called Flemish Parliament Act on the Educational Inspectorate was adopted almost unanimously, with the only vote against coming from the sole French-language member of the Flemish Parliament, Christian Van Eyken.
The Flemish Parliament Act on the Educational Inspectorate was an interpretative Act in which the Flemish Community affirmed its authority over French-language elementary education in the Flemish Periphery. From this time forward, French-language elementary schools were required to comply with the Flemish attainment targets (unless the Flemish Parliament should approve a derogation), implement a teaching curriculum approved by the Government of Flanders, allow themselves to be monitored by a Flemish Centre for Pupil Guidance and Counselling (CLB) and submit to the Flemish Educational Inspectorate. Albeit in French, for the sake of the language facilities.
French-language politicians feared that the Flemish Parliament Act would herald the kiss of death for the schools, as the Act came just at a time when pupil numbers had slightly fallen. The general belief among French-language politicians was that the implementation of the Flemish Parliament Act would result in a gradual run-down of the French-language character of the schools concerned. All of this, while the majority of pupils goes on to French-language secondary education.
For this reason, the local councils of the six municipalities with language facilities, along with a few hundred parents and teachers from the eight schools concerned and the Parliament of the French Community, lodged an appeal with the Constitutional Court. On 29 July 2010, the Constitutional Court suspended the Flemish Parliament Act. On 28 October 2010, the Constitutional Court repealed a number of provisions of the Flemish Parliament Act. For one thing, the Constitutional Court abrogated the article that assigned the powers of inspection to Flemish inspectors. This meant that educational inspections would continue to be conducted by French Community inspectors, in accordance with the standards of the French Community, even though the French Community has no powers in Flanders. However, the French Community inspectors are required to submit their reports to the Flemish Community in Dutch. In other words, the inspection of the inspections is Flemish.
Other provisions in the Flemish Parliament Act were kept in place. For instance, the French-language schools are to submit to being monitored by a Flemish Centre for Pupil Guidance and Counselling (CBL), if the Centre's staff also speaks French, that is. For psychological and educational guidance and counselling, these schools remain free to call on the services of a French-language centre. The Constitutional Court also recognises the power of the Flemish Community to establish development and attainment targets for the French-language schools. However, if the schools apply for a derogation in order to be able to implement the French-language development and attainment targets, the Flemish Community is not permitted to deny such applications. All the more so as the Flemish Community has previously recognised the diplomas delivered by the French Community.
Karla Goetvinck, October 2015.
Footnotes
1 Other than these French-language schools, the municipalities in question obviously also have Dutch-language schools.
Plus d'informations
- Office of the Deputy Governor, Educational Inspectorate of the French-language schools of the peripheral municipalities (online - in Dutch)
- Summary of French-language elementary schools in the 6 peripheral municipalities offering language facilities
Veröffentlichungsart
Karte
Kategorie
Unterricht in der niederländischen Sprache
Unterricht
Region
Vlaamse Rand
Faciliteitengemeenten
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