Definition of the target group(s)
Care in mainstream compulsory education is aimed at all pupils who need extra attention because of developmental and learning delays, social-emotional problems, or socio-economic status.
There are also pupils with disabilities who can receive extra support in mainstream compulsory education.
Pupils with disabilities are classified into eight types based on the nature of the (main) disability. This typology is used as a basis for the organisation of special needs education as well as providing learning support in mainstream compulsory schools (via the learning support model). For special needs secondary education, besides the classification into types, there is also a classification into 4 types of education, depending on the finality of the education.
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Type of basic provision: for children/young people for whom the educational needs are required and for whom it is already evident during pre-primary education, during primary education or secondary education that the adaptations, including remedial, differentiating, compensatory or dispensing measures, are either disproportionate or insufficient to allow the pupil to continue to be taken into a school for mainstream education within the common curriculum;
Type of basic provision also replaces former types 1 (mild mental disability) and 8 (severe learning disabilities) which are in phase-out mode since 1/9/2015.
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Type 2: for children/young people with mental disabilities;
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Type 3: for children/young people with emotional or behavioural disorders who do not have intellectual disabilities;
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Type 4: for children/young people with motor disabilities;
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Type 5: for children/young people admitted to a hospital, residential setting or staying in a preventorium;
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Type 6: for children/young people with visual impairment;
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Type 7: for children/young people with an auditory impairment or a speech or language disorder;
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Type 9: for children/young people with an autism spectrum disorder and who do not have a mental disability.
Pupils can obtain an IAC report (individual adapted curriculum report, a report that gives access to an individual adapted curriculum) when the common curriculum is not feasible with reasonable adjustments and support. This allows a pupil to attend special needs education, or to follow an individually adapted curriculum with support from the learning support model. The IAC report states the type (in secondary education the type and form of education) for which there is an access to special needs education or from which expertise is needed in regard to learning support in the school for education.
With a GC report (common curriculum report), the pupil follows the common curriculum subject to reasonable adjustments in a school for education and learning support can be provided from the learning support model. The GC report determines from which type of expertise is needed to provide learning support in the mainstream school.
There is also an OV4 report (a report about the type of education 4). With this report, a pupil gains access to education form 4 of special needs secondary education, or the pupil can follow the common curriculum in mainstream compulsory education, with learning support provided from the learning support model. A pupil with an OV4 report requires more intensive support to follow the common curriculum than a pupil with a GC report.
Special needs continuum
Schools build their special needs policy on the basis of a special needs continuum with distinct phases:
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In the phase of broad basic special needs (phase 0), the school provides a powerful learning environment for all pupils, with attention to the needs of each pupil.
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In the enhanced special needs phase (phase 1), the school provides extra care in the form of remedial, differentiating, compensatory or dispensing measures for those who need it.
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In the enhanced special needs phase (phase 2), the CLB (center for student guidance) starts the process of action-oriented diagnostics (AOD) for a pupil to determine educational and support needs. The school continues the measures of basic special needs and enhanced special needs during the AOD process. The outcome of the AOD trajectory may be to continue or extend the measures of phases 0 and 1, or the AD trajectory may result in a GC report for the pupil determining educational and support needs, which may include learning support in school.
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When the measures taken in the phase of expansion of special needs and the support offered from special needs education (the support model) are not sufficient or unreasonable for the (mainstream) school to continue working with a pupil within the common curriculum, an individual adapted curriculum (phase 3) may be adopted. The CLB then prepares an IAC report or an OV4 report.
To develop a high-quality special needs policy for all pupils, the school uses its regular resources and the resources it receives in the context of the special needs and equal opportunities policy, on the understanding that the resources generated in the context of the equal opportunities policy must be used specifically for the target group intended in the equal opportunities policy. The school can also be supported by the pedagogical guidance (school support) and the CLB (e.g. in the framework of consultative pupil guidance). In phases 2 and 3 of the special needs continuum, for the guidance of pupils with GC-reports, IAC-reports or OV4-reports, a school for regular education can request learning support from the learning support model (see Learning support model).
The cross-network project 'Protocolisation of diagnostics in education' (Prodia) of the CLB centres and the education umbrella organisations provides online a general framework for action-oriented diagnostics in education with a fully elaborated General Diagnostic Protocol as a framework for the various Specific Diagnostic Protocols such as cognitive strong and weak functioning, behaviour and emotion, reading and spelling, motor skills, language and speech, mathematics.
Specific support measures
Learning support model
From school year 2023-2024, schools for mainstream education in pre-primary, primary and secondary education, for pupils with a GC-report, IAC-report or OV4-report can receive learning support from the learning support model (Circular NO/2023/01).
From 1 September 2023, new learning support centres will be established. These learning support centres are mandated to provide learning support for pupils with GC-report, IAC-report or OV4-report who attend classes in mainstream education. Learning support centres are responsible for having the right expertise to provide learning support, which includes disability-specific expertise as well as coaching and inclusion expertise.
In principle, learning support centres must provide learning support for all eight types from the classification based on the nature of the (main) disability (see section 12.). However, a learning support centre can choose to set up a structural cooperation with another learning support centre for type 4, 6 or 7; if this is chosen, all learning support questions for those types are taken up by that other learning support centre. There are also 5 specific learning support centres that only provide learning support for types 4, 6 and/or 7.
To receive learning support, schools submit a learning support question to the learning support centre. The learning support centre responds to every learning support request within two weeks. In the learning support request, the mainstream school formulates the educational and support needs in consultation with the parents and the Pupil Guidance Centre (CLB). Learning support can be team-oriented, teacher-oriented or pupil-oriented.
Learning support centres are allocated resources based on the number of students for whom they provide learning support. These are resources for recruiting learning support staff to provide learning support on the one hand, and resources for secondary processes to recruit management/ coordination and administrative support staff to manage the learning support centre on the other.
Higher education developed its own support model, organising support for students with disabilities (Circular NO/2017/02).
Special teaching aids
Special educational resources may be made available to pupils, students or trainees with visual, hearing or physical disabilities attending ordinary nursery, primary, secondary, higher or adult education. Resources include technical equipment, adapted furniture, paper or digital conversions or adaptations of teaching materials, and copies of peer notes.
Students in mainstream and special needs primary and secondary education with dyslexia or dyspraxia or other pupils with a GC report, IAC report or OV4 report who benefit from the use of pre-reading software have access to pre-reading software. Students who do not have a GC report, IAC report or OV4 report but are in need of pre-reading software can obtain an 'adibib certificate' through the CLB that also grants them access to the software.
Students in mainstream primary, secondary and higher education and students in adult education with an auditory disability can use a Sign Language interpreter, a written interpreter or a combination of both (Circular NO/2009/02 and VWO/2009/01).
Support from the Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Children and young people with disabilities in education can also receive support through a personal assistance budget (PAB) provided by the Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities (VAPH).
The Flemish Agency for Persons with Disabilities also provides directly accessible help for children and young people with a (suspected) disability. Global individual support is a form of directly accessible assistance that can be deployed as support during crucial transitional moments in inclusion trajectories of young children, for example when they enter a school for (mainstream) pre-school education or when they move from pre-school to primary education.