Belgium (Flemish)
Country
Topic:
A network of psycho-medico-social (PMS) centres provides psychological pedagogical, social and medical guidance to pupils enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools.
PMS centres are regional guidance services, staffed by multidisciplinary teams, co-operating with but independent of the school. Their function is to support the overall development of pupils, through optimisation of the psychological, medical and social conditions of the pupil and of the conditions within his/her pedagogical environment. The activities of the centres are primarily intended to help pupils who are experiencing difficulties, but all centres also offer information to pupils about choice and support to the school-team and the parents in the accomplishment of their educational task. In a situation where the mainstream school does not seem to be addressing a pupil's special needs the PMS centre is responsible for raising the issue of special education.
PMS Centres, like schools, are organised by the state and by provinces, towns and private associations. Each school is associated with a particular PMS centre and the school and the centre co-operate on the basis of a contract which normally runs for six years.
In the Flemish Community, from 1999 onwards, PMS Centres will be transformed to "Centra voor Leerlingen Begeleiding" (CLB Centres: centres for pupil guidance). These new services will encompass several existing PMS Centres and the school medical services and will work on a larger geographical scale. The PMS Centres for special education will be integrated in the new CLB services.
The new centres will be concerned with learning problems, social/emotional problems, school and career guidance and medical follow-up of all pupils. In all of these domains, they are required to focus on prevention, development, remediation and support for school-staff. An important new element is that it is now clearly stated that intervention may be direct, concerning the pupil, and/or indirect, concerning the educational environment, especially teachers and parents. This means that the school staff and school developments may be the object of support by CLB Centres.
In the rationale of the new support centres. it is clearly stated that pupils with SEN are a priority. Therefore, the new centres must work closely together with health and welfare services in their region.
2. Therapeutic, social and residential services
In the new Decree on Basic Education (1997), special education is defined as: "education, based on a pedagogical project, that provides adapted schooling, care and therapy for pupils whose general personal development cannot be or can insufficiently be guaranteed, temporarily or permanently, in an ordinary school."
This means that in the Flemish Community of Belgium, the department for education also provides for additional care within all schools for special education and for integrated pupils in mainstream schools. Within a particular "budget" for non-educational care the school can offer therapeutic services (speech, language or motor therapy), but also psychological, social or nursery assistance.
For special needs which are not provided for by the school services, legislation allows schools to obtain access to external services who provide help within school time or connected to it. Specialists from rehabilitation centres, from residential or other therapeutic services, may provide help to pupils in the school environment. It is up to the school to demonstrate the need for these services and to coordinate their actions within the pedagogical project of the school and the educational plan of each pupil concerned.