- 2019Approved/Agreed
- 2020Approved/Agreed
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
- 2025Implementation
Background
As part of the 2009-14 Community Policy Declaration, the Government has decided to reform initial teacher training, based on the opinions and needs expressed by the stakeholders concerned. In the long term, faced with the demands of the profession, this reform would imply, by extending the duration of studies to five years, a gradual strengthening of the training of teachers, integrating both new needs and greater collaboration with field teachers.
Objectives
The challenge of this reform is to equip teachers better to cope with the increasing complexity of the profession, to give them the ability to help each student succeed and to upgrade the profession to encourage more motivated people to become teachers.
Description
In French-speaking Belgium, the Parliament of the French Community adopted on 6 February 2019 a Decree reforming initial teacher education. The decree creates a master degree (ISCED 7) with the objective of increasing the attractiveness of this profession. It helps strengthen teachers’ skills by opening up new areas of expertise such as guidance, media literacy or even gender diversity and multiculturalism. It also allows for better transition between different education levels.
The Parliament adopted the degree in the beginning of 2019.
In 2020, the deployment of the reform of initial teacher training was postponed to 2022-23 (initially foreseen in 2019-20) to proceed to an evaluation of its budgetary impact and better link it to the policy framework Pact for excellence in education.
On 1 December 2021, the Parliament of the French Community adopted a decree amending the decree on the reform of initial teacher training. The training of core subject teachers will be increased from three to four years, and future teachers will now be trained via a joint diploma between colleges, universities and art schools.
As of May 2022, applications for accreditation and the submission of co-graduation agreements are organised throughout the year.
In 2023, the first year of the Master in Teaching programme for the following sections 1 to 3 was introduced: kindergarden reception class to second primary, third kindergarten to sixth primary, fifth primary to third secondary.
In 2024, the second year of the Master in Teaching programme took place. The specialised Master programme in Teacher Training was introduced, which provides training to teachers who will train future teachers for compulsory education.
In 2025, the reform of initial teacher education entered its third year of gradual implementation.
The Master in Teaching programme reached its third year for sections 1 to 3 (kindergarten to lower secondary education) and its first year for sections 4 and 5, which cover upper secondary, artistic, and specialised education.
Higher education institutions continued to implement the new co-graduation arrangements between universities, university colleges (hautes écoles) and art schools, ensuring coordination of curricula and teaching practices. The Ministry of the French Community, together with ARES (Académie de recherche et d'enseignement supérieur), monitored the roll-out to assess institutional cooperation and student workload.
A first formative evaluation was launched to analyse the initial effects of the reform on teacher education quality, the coherence of academic and professional components, and the attractiveness of the teaching profession.
Preparatory work also started for the external evaluation planned for 2026, which will assess the overall impact of the reform on teacher recruitment, retention, and training pathways.
Bodies responsible
- Parliament of the French Community
Target groups
Education professionals
- Teachers
Thematic categories
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
This thematic sub-category refers to measures aimed at engaging more professionals into teaching and training careers, including career schemes or incentives. It includes measures enabling teaching and training of staff, managing VET provider and trainer teams in companies to act as multipliers and mediators, and supporting their peers and/or local communities.
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Reforming initial teacher education: Belgium-FR. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2025 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/28042