Belgium (Flemish)
Country
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Actual laws specify that special education caters for children and adolescents from the age of 3 to the age of 21 years, who are suited to receive special education. Compulsory schooling applies to the same ages for pupils in mainstream schools and in special schools. In special schools however, there is more flexibility as to the moment of transition between the school levels. In practice, special nursary schools are accessible from the age of 2.5 years and in case of inadequate social provisions for severely disabled adolescents, schooling can continue even beyond the age of 21 years.
The system of special schools, organised by the education department of the Flemish Community, caters for the majprity of children and adolescents with a disability. Only a very small number of disabled children (less than 0.1%) cannot be enrolled in a school environment. They have access to residential or day care centres, organised or supported by the welfare department.
Significant historical data
The Compulsory Education Act of 1914 stated that "where the school population is sufficiently large local authorities must provide classrooms for poorly gifted or abnormal children." However, this requirement was generally not met. In 1924, the Ministry for Education recognised the issue of pupils who fell behind in basic subject acquisition and in 1931, new provisions were made to extend compulsory education to all mentally and physically handicapped children. Whilst some pioneers, such as Dr Ovide Decroly, established special classes close to mainstream teaching situations, the main initiatives in this field occurred after 1950. In 1959, the "School Pact Act" required that a special education system should be developed for all children with "learning difficulties". More than a decade later (July, 1970) a "special education act" was passed.
The special education system was now to embrace three "different" populations: children who could not meet the requirements of mainstream teaching, children with visual or hearing impairments who were traditionally educated in special institutes and children with severe physical or mental handicap who, until then, had not attended school.
The 1970 Special Education Act
The 1970 Act had two basic principles:
(a) the general rule was that a child should attend the mainstream classroom and attendance at a special school would represent an exception. Therefore attendance of a special classroom must be justified by a comprehensive examination, independent of the school;
(b) since special education endeavours to meet specific needs identified within pupils it would be organised into eight types or pedagogical settings, designed to provide the most appropriate response to the particular need.
This second principle constituted a break with the philosophy underlying the provisions made by other ministries dealing with handicapped people. For the first time, a law focused on the needs of the child rather than on his/her disability and emphasized an educational rather than a therapeutic approach. Unfortunately, it proved very difficult to find a satisfactory operational definition of the concept of need. Therefore, early in the development of the special school system, there was evidently a confusion between, on the one hand, the concept of educational TYPE, which refers to an organiastion of teaching and on the other. the concept of DISABILITY, which refers to an evaluation of deficits presented by the child.
The 1970 Act led to the suppression of all kinds of special classrooms still located in mainstream schools; these were generally regarded as marginal and poorly managed. Therefore, a completely autonomous system of schools was built up, in many cases based in new buildings which were located outside the centres of towns. As a consequence, the child attending a special school is frequently far removed from his or her home environment. Although special schools were invited to join the local co-ordinated school districts, there are very few functional links between mainstream and special schools, even if they are organised by the same local authority and/or are in close proximity to one another.
Integration in mainstream schools
The 1970 Act allows a pupil enrolled in a special school to attend a mainstream school on a full-time or part-time basis. In the Flemish Community, some small experiments or pilot projects of integration were introduced in 1980 for pupils with physical, visual or hearing impairments. In 1983, these projects became generalised to all schools for physically or sensory disabled pupils on all school levels. In 1986, a "law on special and integrated education" was passed. This law modified the law of 1970. In principle, no type or level of special education was excluded, but in practice during the school year 88/89 only 750 pupils with a motor, visual or hearing impairment were integrated into mainstream schools. The total number of pupils in special schools was almost 35,000.
In 1994, integrated education was generalised to all types of special education. New forms and strategies on integration have been introduced. In addition, pupils with learning and behaviour problems can profit from integration support when they return from a special to a mainstream school. Within integrated education, support to the pupils and the teacher is given by a staff member from a special school. In this way, the experience and special expertise existing in special education can be incorporated into the mainstream class. It creates the opportunity for gradually building in elements of special education into mainstream education.
However, the adaptations from 1994 derive from the basic rationale of 1980, which was not changed. Integration is still seen as extra work for pupils who have the capacity to meet the normal expectations of a mainstream school. When the pupil's disability is moderate or mild, support is meant to be temporary, extending to no more than two years per school level. Only for severe disabilities (deafness or blindness) may assistance be permanent. Limited support over one school year is provided for pupils with specific learning or behavioural problems who return to a mainstream school after a stay of at least one year in a special school.
For pupils with a moderate or severe disability - in particular children with intellectual retardation - integration is still very difficult in practice. Some educational authorities are still not in favour of these pupils participating in the mainstream school. While such pupils may attend a mainstream school, no support facilities are provided. Some informal projects are ongoing, funded by parents who have the means to pay for them.
The present Legal Framework for Integration
In 1997, the Flemish Government adopted a New Decree on Basic Education. It is mainly a harmonisation of existing acts concerning basic education (pre-primary and primary, mainstream and special). Now all legislation concerning special education since 1970 is fully integrated in one general Decree on Basic Education.
In this new Decree 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 definition is based on a true concept of special needs. The nature or the degree of an impairment or a disability does not justify a referral to special education; referral is made on the basis of the balance between the possibilities of a mainstream school and the educational needs of an individual pupil. It is clearly stated in the new Decree that it is the mission of every mainstream school to provide for the optimal education and development of every pupil. This mission must be implemented within the regular provision. Additionally, schools may apply for extra provision to run particular projects intended for specific groups - temporarily or permanently. In recent years, these extra facilities have mainly been given to pupils with learning problems, or to children of immigrants.
The Decree allows for a more flexible staffing pattern in special schools. The total amount of resources given to a school, based on the number of pupils, can now also be used to employ pedagogical, psychological and social staff, whereas in the past, such resources could only be deployed on speech therapy, physiotherapy or nursery facilities.
The new Decree also provides a formal, legal basis for the projects on integrated education which have been running since 1980, but were based only on circulars issued by the Education Department. Integrated education is defined as a form of cooperation between mainstream and special education. It is intended for pupils with a disability and /or learning or behaviour problems, to create the possibility to attend a mainstream school with additional support from a special school staff member. The special school receives extra teaching staff or paramedical staff and some working facilities to support integration.