2025

Change of name from ‘Social Advancement Education’ to ‘Adult Education’ : 27/03/2025

The decree changing the name from ‘Social Advancement Education’ to ‘Adult Education’ has been adopted. This new name is non-stigmatising and is already being used by several institutions. This new name marks a decisive step in the modernisation and promotion of this type of education, which, with more than 135,000 learners, is the largest provider of adult education and training in French-speaking Belgium. 
This name better reflects the mission of this type of education, which is distinguished by its inclusive approach, aimed at making education accessible to all adults, regardless of their situation. Adult Education thus enables people with little or no schooling to obtain their first qualification, while offering retraining and upskilling opportunities for those who already have qualifications. 
This name also highlights the approach specific to adult education, which meets the specific needs of a population whose expectations and motivations differ from those of pupils and students in initial education. This teaching method, which differs from that of compulsory education but also from that of colleges, universities and higher arts schools (which also cater to adults), makes it possible to adapt educational pathways to the realities of students returning to education, taking into account their personal and professional challenges, while valuing their life experience. 
Although the name is changing, adult education will continue to be aimed at all students who are no longer subject to full-time compulsory schooling and will continue its mission of professional, social, cultural and academic integration.

January 2025: Adult Education Contract 2035
Renamed Adult Education, social advancement education aims to align with the needs of learners, our society and socio-economic actors. 
Technological upheavals, ecological transition, increased demand for skills... To meet these challenges, the Skills for Life project: Des Compétences pour la Vie : Contrat 2035 de l’Enseignement pour Adultes(.pdf) (Contract 2035 for Adult Education) was created. 
It aims by 2035 to reposition Social Advancement Education, renamed Adult Education, as a well-known and recognized, quality, lifelong education aligned with the needs of learners, our society and socio-economic actors. 
Contract 2035 is based on a Vision 2035 which sets out the ambitions, namely: enable every adult to access diploma studies, teach skills that are long-term, provide continuing education, teach the prerequisites (French as a foreign language, basic skills, etc.) that make it possible to register for diploma training and make it sustainable to resume studies. 
To achieve these ambitions, the contract is based on nine projects, including quality, steering, administrative simplification, financing, guidance and strengthening partnerships with businesses and other educational institutions. 
With more than 135,000 students enrolled in 2023-2024 and 150 institutions, Adult Education is the largest adult education and training operator in French-speaking Belgium. 
It offers all adults the opportunity to return to education, to obtain a diploma, to reorient themselves professionally or to specialise. 
In its inventory, Contract 2035 highlights the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of Adult Education. It highlighted the quality of the teaching staff, which numbered between 2,500 and 2,800 full-time equivalents.  
Building on its strengths, Adult Education gives itself ten years to change.

2024

There have been no reforms to date in this area.

2023

Decree of 25th March 2023 : designation of gender contact persons in all higher education establishments as well as for Social advancement  education : entry into force at the beginning of the 2023/24 academic year

The PCGs of the various institutions work as a network. They share the information at their disposal, exchange best practices and those of which they are aware, and develop joint projects by pooling their resources. The network of PCGs forms the "Gender Contact Persons Conference". In addition, the Advisory Council on Women's Rights was created in 2023 as a result of the merger of the existing Women's Rights Plan Monitoring Committee and the « Alter Égales » Steering Committee. The Council aims to ensure that all French Community policies are developed and implemented with gender equality in mind. It aims to better support and structure the involvement of civil society in the implementation of policies carried out in the French Community, particularly with regard to the implementation of the Women's Rights Plan.