Introduction

Non-school childcare facilities

The Office for Birth and Childhood (ONE) acts in support of childcare facilities by means of three types of personnel :

• Care coordinators (formerly known as ‘inspectors’), who have general responsibility for overseeing standards and offering guidance on childcare practice in facilities. They carry an official badge to testify to their role and their position as an ONE representative. Their role is to analyse and evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of new childcare facilities. Once activities have commenced, the coordinator performs a support and guidance role. He/she ensures the facility’s continuing conformity with current legislation, regulations and standards. Such coordinators have no involvement with autonomous childminders ;
• Advisers who are responsible for monitoring childminders. They give them support, advice and guidance on their work and on the compilation of their childcare plan and issue a formal opinion with a view to the issue of the recognition granted by the subregional committee ;
• Educational advisers who work to improve the quality of the care that is provided and to support professionals in the implementation of their plan. They ensure the consistency of childcare practices. They are available to support the various types of childcare facility.

Pre-secondary and secondary education

The General Department of Inspection, directed by a coordinating inspector-general, was created by the decree of 8 March 2007. This general department consists of various services, several of which relate to pre-secondary and/or secondary education :

• an Inspection Service for Ordinary Pre-Secondary Education, directed by an inspector-general assisted by three inspectors responsible for coordinating inspection activity in ordinary pre-secondary education ;
• an Inspection Service for Ordinary Secondary Education, directed by an inspector-general assisted by three inspectors responsible for coordinating inspection activity in ordinary secondary education ;
• an Inspection Service for Specialised Education, directed by an inspector responsible for coordinating inspection activity in specialised education ;
• an Inspection Service for Arts Education, directed by an inspector responsible for coordinating inspection activity in arts education ;
• an Inspection Service for the Centres for Psychological, Medical and Social Services, directed by an inspector responsible for coordinating inspection activity in the Centres for Psychological, Medical and Social Services.

There is also a separate inspectorate for each recognised religion (Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Orthodoxy), apart from Islam, and an inspectorate of non-confessional ethics, but the decree on inspection does not apply to religion classes. In any case the inspectors of religious teaching fall within the authority of the Coordinating General Inspector.

The inspectors’ remit includes the following tasks :

• evaluating and checking on the level of studies (in relation to the achievement targets established by legislation) ;
• within schools, evaluating the following points in particular :
• compliance with the curricula set or approved by the government ;
• consistency of practice, including evaluation practice, and appropriateness of teaching equipment and school facilities in the light of educational requirements ;
• coherence of choices made with regard to in-career training and their appropriateness in the light of educational requirements, as well as the impact of such training on educational practice ;
• proper implementation of the educational aspects of differentiated staffing plans ;
• the safeguarding of freedom of artistic expression and of the modes of artistic expression (arts education) ;
• compliance with various requirements set out in decrees ;
• within schools or distance education institutions, identifying any mechanisms for segregation and working to ensure the elimination of such mechanisms ;
• providing advice and information about the missions defined above ;
• providing support with the design, organisation and correction of external evaluations not leading to certification, with the analysis and use of the results within educational institutions (for pre-secondary education and secondary education), and with the devising of evaluations by external boards in arts education ;
• providing support with the design, organisation and correction of and the board for the common external test leading to the issue of the primary education certificate at the end of primary education (pre-secondary education) ;
• assisting the Steering Committee (pre-secondary and secondary education) ;
• collaborating on in-career training across all networks (pre-secondary and secondary education) or the in-career training of personnel members (part-time arts education grant-aided by the French Community) ;
• issuing a formal opinion on the granting of conformity approval for school textbooks, educational software and teaching aids which are submitted to them by the Steering Committee (pre-secondary and secondary education) ;
• issuing opinions and making proposals, on their initiative or at the government’s request, on any matter falling within their sphere of competence ;
• participating in working groups, committees and councils, in accordance with specific laws, decrees and regulations ;
• working with the teaching departments of the higher education institutions within the context of and under the conditions set by the government ;
• checking on and evaluating compliance with the requirements set out in the decrees regarding in-career training, in terms of those aspects whose inspection and evaluation are entrusted to them by the legislation ;
• working with the government services in connection with the inspection of the application of the measures in favour of free educational provision stipulated by the Decree on the Missions of Schools (pre-secondary and secondary education) ;
• checking on the observation of neutrality where it is a requirement ;
• checking on compliance with certain provisions relating to the status of school heads ;
• carrying out any other tasks entrusted to them by or under the terms of laws, decrees or regulations.

In addition, the inspection services appraise, at the request of the head of school in education organised by the French Community and of the controlling authority in grant-aided education, the teaching skills of the members of staff on its teaching team.

The members of the General Department of Inspection base their evaluation and monitoring on observations made in particular through attendance of lessons and activities, the examination of pupils’ work and documents, the results obtained in external evaluations not leading to certification, interviews with pupils, the analysis of quantitative data relating to failure rates, grade repetition or reassignments to other institutions, and the examination of pupils’ study assignments.

The government or the general official appointed by the government or its representative may, on the basis of a complaint or on its own initiative, decide to conduct an investigation at one or more institutions. If this occurs, the coordinating inspector-general may send one or more members of staff of the General Department of Inspection at establishments of higher education, apart from arts colleges, to perform this or any other related assignment.

Inspection missions are described in detailed reports, which may relate to a single class or all or part of one or more institutions, and which are sent to the competent authorities. They may also form the subject of a memo sent to the service responsible for educational advice and support. If a controlling authority does not intend to take action in response to a negative report compiled by a member of the General Department of Inspection, it is required to justify its decision within a month of receiving the report.

In October 2009, the General Department of Inspection circulated a report which contained a survey of the education system, proposals for remedying the weaknesses identified and the inspection schedule for each inspection department for the school year 2009-2010 and the following two years.

Requirements for appointment

Non-school childcare facilities

The six educational advisers work on open-ended contracts funded by the ONE.

The team of advisers consists of former ONE medical and social staff and social workers directly recruited to the position.

Pre-secondary and secondary education

Various titles and positions may be assigned: mandated inspector, inspector-general, coordinating inspector-general, and inspector in a given field or at a given level.

The decree of 8 March 2007 sets the following conditions for appointment to one of the promotion-grade inspector’s positions: candidates must be Belgian or a national of another European Union member state, they must be of irreproachable character, they must be entitled to full civil and political rights, they must have completed their military service, they must comply with the provisions of the linguistic policy, they must have the status of a teacher appointed to a position relevant to the inspector’s position in question, they must have a service record of at least ten years, including at least six years in their present position, they must not have been subject to any penalty or disciplinary measure during the last five years, they must have the qualification required for the corresponding recruitment-grade position, and they must have obtained the relevant vocational certificate for the position in question.

The vocational certificate is issued after the taking of an examination, which itself follows a 120-hour training course organised by the central authority. This course includes sections on administration, education and relational skills. Regarding evaluation in particular, the course deals with subjects such as techniques for evaluating the level of studies of an institution or class, the use of the inspectorate’s advisory role, formative and certificative evaluation, the evaluation of a teaching sequence, etc. In addition, the training aims to ensure that each trainee acquires a method for evaluating his or her own actions. (Decree of 8 March 2007).

Should a vacancy arise for the promotion-grade position of inspector, those who hold the relevant vocational certificate are informed of the matter and given the opportunity to apply. Responsibility lies with the government for making formal appointments of members of the general department of inspection and for determining, on the proposal of the coordinating inspector-general and after consultation with the inspectors-general and the inspectors responsible for the coordination of inspection, the work assigned to each member of the general department of inspection.

Positions as inspector-general and coordinating inspector-general are conferred by mandate. Among the conditions which have to be satisfied, candidates must have a permanent appointment as an inspector and must have successfully completed training in human resources management of a maximum of 60 hours organised by the School for Public Administration. A selection and evaluation committee draws up a list of five candidates at the most, ranked in order of merit and relational skills, from whom the government chooses the person to whom it will entrust the mandate for a renewable term of five years.

Conditions of service

In pre-secondary and secondary education, the inspectors, who are experienced former teachers, only inspect the subjects that they have taught, and at the educational level at which they used to work as teachers.

Inspectors have the same salary and salary increase entitlements as the heads of schools of the French Community that they inspect. However, during their mandate, the inspector-general and the coordinating inspector-general benefit from the pay scale used for a government employee (level 15 and level 16 respectively).

Inspectors may obtain leave under the same conditions as the heads of schools of the French Community that they inspect. As an exception to this rule, inspectors-general and coordinating inspectors-general benefit from the same annual holiday allowance during their mandate as government employees. However, these mandated inspectors may not obtain other types of leave such as political leave or leave of absence for personal reasons.

The inspectors’ continuing training consists of at least four days of training every year that is relevant to their duties. These training sessions are organised by the Institute for In-Career Training (in the case of the promotion-grade position of inspector) or by the School of Public Administration (in the case of inspectors-general or coordinating inspectors-general), and lead to the issue of an attendance certificate. Extra days, left to the initiative of the individual, may be attended with the agreement of the manager.

The evaluation of mandated inspectors takes place every 30 months, and that of other inspectors at least every two years and no later than 400 days after their commencement of the role. The evaluation relates to the accomplishment of the duties assigned: the coordinating inspector interviews the inspector in question and draws up an evaluation report. The evaluation may be favourable, qualified or unfavourable. The report is submitted to the evaluated inspector for his/her approval. In the event of a disagreement, an internal dispute procedure may be initiated, which may lead to the lodging of a claim with a Chamber of Appeal.

Depending on whether the subject of the evaluation is a mandated inspector or another member of the general department of inspection, his/her mandate or position will be terminated after one unfavourable evaluation or two consecutive unfavourable evaluations respectively.

Transfers of personnel members of the general department of inspection who have received a permanent appointment to the position of inspector of pre-primary or primary education are organised in four rounds, each of which relates to jobs which have definitely become vacant since 1 October (the first round) or since the previous round. Candidates are ranked according to seniority in their position, or age in the event of equal seniority.

The salary scales on which the inspectors’ salaries are calculated depend in particular on the function performed.