“This is the canary in the coal mine,” write a group of school principals and education professionals, responding to the closure of a third-grade class in Sint-Gillis due to the teacher shortage. “If we don’t intervene urgently now, tomorrow we will see in other cities what is already happening in Brussels today.” They call on the Flemish government not to abandon Brussels.
The Flemish government has committed itself to reaching 30% of Brussels residents with its Dutch-language services. A smart choice if you want more people in Brussels to speak Dutch — and especially if you know that population growth in the Flemish periphery is largely driven by people leaving the capital.
In recent years, the capacity of Dutch-language education in Brussels has grown significantly. But the 30% goal has not been met and is under threat from the growing teacher shortage.
Dutch-language education in Brussels is expanding because of the demographic boom and because it is becoming more popular year after year compared to French-language education. Its market share is rising: we now reach 27% of children in pre-primary education, 21% in primary education, and 17% in secondary education.
Yet every year, hundreds of parents are disappointed because primary schools are full. And unfortunately, parents and children who do find a place are no longer guaranteed a continuous Dutch-language school career, as schools are increasingly forced during the school year to close classes due to lack of staff.
The minister rightly stresses the importance of investment in school infrastructure. But if there is no one to stand in front of the class, those investments miss their mark.
For those outside education, it is hard to understand how a school can suddenly be forced to close classes halfway through the school year. Yet school boards and principals do not take such drastic decisions lightly. Only after all options have been explored and exhausted, and when several teachers drop out at once with no replacement in sight… sometimes there is no other choice. Then the safety of the children must come first. Closing a class is then a courageous decision: better to keep children (temporarily) at home than to risk serious accidents at school due to lack of supervision and guidance.
That schools today are forced to close classes is not a detail. It is an alarm signal. A kind of canary in the coal mine: if we do not intervene urgently now, tomorrow we will see in other cities what is already happening in Brussels. For years, Brussels schools have pulled out all the stops. They have been creative, flexible, and resilient.
But now it is over. The elasticity is gone. And as long as nothing changes, school closures will continue to appear — and increase. Teachers who have carried the system on their shoulders for years are burning out.
We are caught in a vicious circle: people with goodwill, but often without a teaching qualification (especially in Brussels), are hired through flexible pathways. Without adequate support, they cannot find solutions to the complex challenges in Brussels schools. Disappointed, they leave the profession again.
Experienced teachers repeatedly try to guide these newcomers, but often see them leave quickly. Those who claim that teacher turnover is no higher than in other sectors overlook something important: many teachers may not leave the profession entirely, but they do leave their schools. Year after year. And that has a major impact on school teams and on the chances of real school development.
Brussels needs an integrated long-term plan. It is far too simplistic to reduce the issue merely to the number of people in front of a class. If the overall number of teachers rises but the number of qualified teachers falls, it will be very difficult to turn the tide on education quality.
Structural measures such as the teacher bonus introduced by the Flemish government (doubled in Brussels by the Flemish Community Commission) are a step in the right direction. They temporarily pull teachers out of the classroom for a few hours by relieving them of teaching duties and creating space to follow teacher training. Schools sometimes resent the measure because it reduces classroom capacity in the short term, but in the long run it contributes to a stable and well-trained teaching corps.
In Brussels, we see that teachers without training are far more likely to leave the profession early than those who have completed teacher training. Investing in the professionalism of teaching teams will make the job more attractive for lateral entrants and more sustainable for the experienced and talented teachers who are currently holding so many Brussels schools together.
We therefore call for real, structural measures. For example: proper monitoring of both the quantity and the quality of the Brussels teaching workforce; a financial bonus or other benefits for teachers working in schools with many disadvantaged pupils; recognition of thoughtful, evidence-based training to help teams find effective answers to complex urban challenges; and financial support for sustainable learning and networking communities for school leaders, where experience and knowledge can be shared. Because here too, turnover is too high.
There are more than enough promising avenues to choose from. Brussels education partners — across networks — want to shoulder the responsibility together for a structural approach. We invite the minister to join in making a difference and to take action.
Brussels deserves structural solutions. It is five minutes past midnight.
Joost Vaesen is Chair of the Local Consultation Platform for Primary Education in Brussels and Chair of the Teacher Training Program at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).
Els Consuegra is Vice-Chair of the Teacher Training Program at the VUB.
Jurgen Wayenberg is General Director of the GO! School Group Brussels.
Bruno De Lille Battaille is General Director of the vzw Sint-Goedele Brussels.
Roel De Groof is Network Coordinator for Official Subsidized Education in the Brussels-Capital Region and Director-Coordinator of the Spectrum School Community.
Wim Van den Brulle is Network Coordinator for Primary Education in the Brussels-Capital Region – Catholic Education Flanders.
>> Please note that this is a machine generated translation