Wallonia | Living in Wallonia| Education

From nurseries to universities, Wallonia is particularly proud of its educational system not only for the quality of the education it provides but for the range of choice available to students.

When it comes to deciding on a nursery, primary or secondary school, parents can select from a wide range of options that includes local schools, European schools and international schools.

THE DIFFERENT Networks

There are three education networks:

• Official schools (organised by the public authorities: Communes, towns, provinces and communities).
• Public schools (mainly catholic). This network groups together schools of all levels, either because they apply specific educational theories or because they are aimed at a specific section of the public.
• Private schools : these schools do not form part of the Belgian system referenced above and include both international schools and religious schools and all foreign schools that teach in a foreign language.

THE DIFFERENT LEVELS

» Nursery school

Formal education starts at the age of two and a half and continues through three year's of nursery education. This level is not mandatory although it is strongly recommended by most educationalists. The purpose of nursery school is actively prepare young children for primary school.

» Primary school

The primary system consists of a six year cycle from the age of 6 to 12. The main subjects taught at this level include reading, writing, and more generally, the development of a good command of the child's mother tongue and maths.

  » Secondary school: from age 12 to 18

As there are so many choices available at this level, it is impossible to list them all here.
Generally speaking, there are four main options:

• General secondary school: Aimed at children who plan to continue their education beyond the age of 18 either by attending university, or a non-university higher educational establishment,
• Technical secondary school: More practical in focus, students who select this option will be able to master the practicalities of a specific occupation on completion of the cycle,
• Artistic secondary school: Focused on visual arts and the teaching of music,
• Vocational secondary school: Aimed at young students who do not want to continue their studies beyond the age of 18 and who intend to obtain a practical apprenticeship in a specific occupation.

» Higher level education and universities

Thanks to a particularly wide network of higher level colleges (hautes écoles) and universities, there is a large choice of courses available in Wallonia.
All of these courses respond to the demands of the market place: 90% of students who graduate from a higher level institutions or university are in employment today. These training courses are provided by almost 130 colleges of higher education (divided into 29 Hautes Ecoles) and 9 university centres, spread out across the entire region.

The universities are already very closely involved in high level European research. Numerous research laboratories participate in European networks of excellence in various domains such as life sciences, nanotechnology, IT etc. International surveys have confirmed the quality of their work at a global level. A number of these laboratories also work closely with business-university interface bodies and are involved in the creation of spin off companies from within university campuses for the purposes of exploiting industrial breakthroughs by developing high added value industrial products and services. The science of humanities also follows a long tradition of excellence.

» International schools and European schools  

There are a number of international schools in Belgium, of which three are European schools located in the capital of Brussels. The education provided by these international schools is based on the education systems in the US, UK, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Japan.

European schools also teach in the mother tongue of the child, plus a second language which is introduced at primary level. Students study a second foreign language from the second year of secondary level, and from fourth year, they have the option of studying two additional languages. These schools are mostly aimed at the children of employees of the European Community and bring children from nursery level right up to the end of secondary school. 

» Improvement courses
For those interested in continuous education, the teaching of professional improvement courses (or evening classes) offers a very wide range of courses that are generally organised to accommodate people in professional employment. The teaching of improvement courses allows students the opportunity to obtain a certificate that they may not have acquired during their initial training. This type of education also forms part of personal training and continuous vocational training courses.