Belgium (Flemish)
Country
Topic:
- nursery teachers;
- primary teachers;
- lower secondary teachers: first and second grades of secondary education and in vocational secondary education;
- upper secondary teachers: second and third grade of secondary education.
Since September 1997, the structure of teacher training courses in Flanders encompasses the following forms:
- initial teacher training courses (one cycle of 3 years);
- teacher training courses additional to a basic diploma at secondary technical or at academic level;
- continuing teacher training courses.
Initial teacher training, for nursery, primary and lower secondary teachers, last 3 years, and is intended for students who have not previously followed any teacher training. These forms of training are provided at colleges for higher education.
Additional teacher training, for secoundary teachers, focusses upon part-time courses, provided at higher technical colleges or at universities. The training is a 'qualifiation to teach' for those who have a basic diploma from a technical school or a university department. The training can be followed at the same time as, or after the second cycle of the basic academic course.
In December 1998, the Flemish parliament approved for each kind of teacher a 'professional profile'and 'basic competencies'. A professional profile describes the knowledge, skills and attitudes of an experienced teacher. Basic competencies refer to the knowledge, skills and attitudes that each teacher must have at the end of the initial training in order to function in an appropriate way as a new teacher.
The professional profiles and basic compentencies are developed from three areas of responsibility:
Responsibility with respect to the pupil: this refers to the teacher as:
- companion of the learning and development process of the learner;
- educator;
- expert of contents
- organisor;
- innovator and researcher.
Responsibility towards the school and the educational community: this refers to the teacher as:
- partner of the parents;
- member of the school-team;
- partner of external groups and organisations;
- member of the wider educational community.
Responsibility with respect to the community: this refers to the teacher as a cultural participant.
Teacher trainers will be obliged to use the basic competencies as a basis for determining their training curricula for which they have full responsibility. The government has no influence in determining the detailed content of the curriculum. The inspectorate however, will also use the basic competencies as a basis for their quality control of teacher training.
This new approach has been used to pay more attention to aspects of special needs education in initial teacher training. Although there is a supplementary specialist teacher training course to obtain a specific diploma for special education, it is considered that at the end of the initial training, all teachers must have the necessary competencies to begin work in a special school and to have the knowledge and skills to deal with pupils with special educational needs in mainstream education. Therefore specific content relating to special education will be integrated into the initial teacher training curricula in a more explicit way than it is at present.