- 2018Approved/Agreed
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
- 2025Implementation
Objectives
The French Community (Walloon-Brussels Federation) has implemented a coherent framework for monitoring and steering compulsory education policies, aimed at reinforcing quality assurance and promoting improvements in the education system, including performance, inclusion, and equity. This framework covers the whole compulsory education system: general education (referred to nationally as the transition education) as well as the qualifying system.
Central to this framework is the School steering plan, complemented by targeted specific steering plans: for the Resource Centres (focusing on inclusion) and an adjustment mechanism for a limited number of schools facing low performances. Together, these three policies form an integrated approach at the micro-level of the education system.
Description
The reform of the School steering plan was established in 2018-19, based on a feedback loop system. So-called contracts of objectives, which cover a period of six years, are introduced to assist reaching the education improvement goals set by the Government of the French Community. The steering plan lists 15 levers for action such as decreasing school dropout rates, digitalising, or relationships with parents. Pedagogical teams – relying on indicator assessment – decide on their specific objectives (three to five). The school carries out an annual assessment of the progress made and decides on further actions as needed.
There are continuous exchanges and monitoring between the administration and schools. Delegates to contracts of objectives (Délégués au Contrat d’Objectifs, DCOs), assisted by zone directors, represent the ministry of education. Constant dialogue between school boards and DCOs is encouraged. DCOs carry out an interim evaluation after three years and a final one at the end of the six-year contract. In response to the interim review, a modification of specific objectives can be considered. The introduction of this mechanism aims at reinforcing quality assurance in the education system, and at ensuring every school focus on performance and equity challenges.
Alongside the School steering plans, two other steering plans are in place: there are the Steering plan of resource centres (Pôle Territoriaux) and the...
The reform of the School steering plan was established in 2018-19, based on a feedback loop system. So-called contracts of objectives, which cover a period of six years, are introduced to assist reaching the education improvement goals set by the Government of the French Community. The steering plan lists 15 levers for action such as decreasing school dropout rates, digitalising, or relationships with parents. Pedagogical teams – relying on indicator assessment – decide on their specific objectives (three to five). The school carries out an annual assessment of the progress made and decides on further actions as needed.
There are continuous exchanges and monitoring between the administration and schools. Delegates to contracts of objectives (Délégués au Contrat d’Objectifs, DCOs), assisted by zone directors, represent the ministry of education. Constant dialogue between school boards and DCOs is encouraged. DCOs carry out an interim evaluation after three years and a final one at the end of the six-year contract. In response to the interim review, a modification of specific objectives can be considered. The introduction of this mechanism aims at reinforcing quality assurance in the education system, and at ensuring every school focus on performance and equity challenges.
Alongside the School steering plans, two other steering plans are in place: there are the Steering plan of resource centres (Pôle Territoriaux) and the steering plan of Adjustment mechanism for schools facing difficulties and low performance. The resource centres aim to promote and improve the inclusion of learners with special needs in ordinary education, and to ensure a balanced distribution of their support across schools. They have their own contract of objectives that organises collaboration between the centres and the partner schools. As for the Adjustment mechanism schools, these are schools facing difficulties and low performance within the education system. Identified by the administration through specific indicators, these schools receive collective support for at least three years, tailored to their situation. The steering of Adjustment mechanism for schools is specific and adapted to their particular circumstances.
In 2019, about one-third of schools were involved in the new schools steering plan system. The School adjustment mechanism has been agreed upon.
In 2020, about two-thirds of schools were involved in the Schools steering plan system and 20 schools have been identified in the School adjustment mechanism.
In 2021, it was initially planned that almost all schools should have been involved in the Schools steering plan system. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the last third of schools have had an extended period to fulfil their steering plan.
40 schools have been identified in the School adjustment mechanism.
By the end of 2022, about 80% of the schools were involved in the new school steering system. The remaining schools should see their contracts of objectives start in the first half of 2023.
64 schools have been identified in the School adjustment mechanism.
Since 2023, one-third of schools with an objective-based contract have undergone an interim evaluation. 86 schools have been identified in the School adjustment mechanism.
School steering plan: in 2024, 100% of schools that met the requirements were applying the School Steering Plans and 60% of schools have taken their interim evaluation.
School adjustment mechanism: to date, 109 Adjustment mechanism schools have been identified and were overseen by the Directorate-General for Education System Management (Direction générale du pilotage du système éducatif, DGPSE). All scheduled evaluations have taken place.
The drafting of a steering plan for resource centres was finalised in March 2024. Resource Centres (Pôles territoriaux): in 2024, 100% of centres had formalised their annex and were implementing it.
The design phase of the interim and final evaluations of the centres started in 2024.
The design phase of the interim and final evaluations of the centres continued in 2025. All projects ran as regular practice.
Bodies responsible
- Ministry of the French Community
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers to further development of national quality assurance (QA) systems for IVET and CVET, for all learning environments (school-based provision and work-based learning, including apprenticeships) and all learning types (digital, face-to-face or blended), delivered by both public and private providers. These systems are underpinned by the EQAVET quality criteria and by indicative descriptors applied both at system and provider levels, as defined in Annex II of the VET Recommendation. The sub-category concerns creating and improving external and self-evaluation of VET providers, and establishing criteria of QA, accreditation of providers and programmes. It also covers the activities of Quality assurance national reference points for VET on implementing and further developing the EQAVET framework, including the implementation of peer reviews at VET system level.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Schools steering plans: Belgium-FR. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2025 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/pl/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28025