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 are responsible for promoting quality of care in care settings for children aged 0-15 in a given geographical area. To this end, they support the organising authorities, managers and professionals in the implementation of their project and practices and participate in the evaluation. They monitor compliance with operating standards in the various types of care facilities by referring to the legislation in force within the scope of the Office’s powers. They shall deliver reasoned opinions on requests from the host community and on requests from the authority. They are, for the various actors concerned, reference interlocutors in terms of care quality. They carry out their work in collaboration with both ONE stakeholders and external stakeholders ;
• Advisers who are responsible for monitoring independent childminders (childcare settings) ;
• Educational advisers play a key role in developing the quality of childcare facilities (early childhood care and free time care). Their support is anchored in the implementation of the Childcare Quality Code, the various benchmarks and the associated tools. Their actions aim to promote and deepen the different dimensions of the quality of care. The pedagogical advisers are spread over the various subregions : their actions are carried out at local, sub-regional and Community level. They 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, in collaboration with the care coordinators and the advisory staff.

Pre-primary, primary and secondary education

The General Department of Inspection, directed by a coordinating inspector-general, was created by the Decree of 10 January 2019. This general department consists of various services, several of which relate to pre-secondary and/or secondary education :

• an Inspection Service for Pre-Primary, Primary and lower Secondary Education, directed by an Inspector-general and five Inspectors-coordinators responsible, under the authority of the Inspector General, for coordinating the missions of Inspection in pre-primary, primary and lower Secondary Education ;
• an Inspection Service for General and Vocational Secondary Education, directed by an Inspector-General and two Inspectors responsible, under the authority of the Inspector General, for coordinating the missions of Inspection in General and Vocational Secondary Education ;
• an Inspection Service for Adult Education and Distance learning (in e-learning) of the French Community, directed by an Inspector-coordinator, responsible for coordinating the missions of Inspection in Adult Education and Distance learning ;
• an Inspection Service for Arts Education, directed by an Inspector-coordinator responsible for coordinating the missions of Inspection in Arts Education ;
• an Inspection Service for the Centres for Psychological, Medical and Social Services, directed by an Inspector-coordinator responsible for coordinating the missions of Inspection in the Centres for Psychological, Medical and Social Services.

In particular, the inspectors are responsible for the following tasks :

• school audits ; 
• evaluation of the implementation of a pedagogical or educational device ; 
• check on the presumption of one or more substantial non-compliant elements ; 
• assessment of the pedagogical ability of a member of the staff of the educational team; 
• pedagogical expertise.

The members of the General Department of Inspection base their assessment on observations made in particular by attending courses and activities, by questioning students about the expectations of the framework and programmes, by examining preparations, works, student documents and the results obtained from non-certificative external evaluations and by analysing the above-mentioned quantitative data.

Inspection missions are described in detailed reports, which may relate to one or several teaching members of staff or all or part of one or more institutions, and which are sent to the competent authorities.

By 15 December of each school year, the Inspector-General-Coordinator shall send the Government a report on the general state of the education system in connection with the general observations collected in the context of audit missions, evaluation missions and on the results of educational action in schools.

Requirements for appointment

Non-school childcare facilities

The Care Coordinators access their duties via a promotion examination accessible to the child-parent partners (Pep’s, formerly ‘medical and social workers’) of the ONE (nurse’s diploma, social worker, midwife, assistant in psychology). They usually have a few years’ professional experience in the Pep’s function before taking up the role of Care Coordinator. The promotion examination is an examination of the validity of professional skills which includes a written and oral examination in front of a selection board. In addition, after commitment, in-house training is planned, in particular with regard to regulations and psycho-pedagogical support. 

Counsellors may enter the profession provided that they have at least a bachelor’s degree related to the professions in the childcare area. Their selection is made by recruitment examination (internal and external call). When the counsellor is engaged, in-house training is provided. 

Pedagogical counsellors must have a psycho-pedagogical title, and have 5 years of experience in the field of children with a project management dimension. In addition, pedagogical counsellors must pass an accession examination in order to be registered.

Pre-primary, primary and secondary education

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

The Decree of 10 January 2019 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 10 January 2019).

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 Inspector-general-coordinator 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 Inspector-general-coordinator 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

Non-school childcare facilities

The Care Coordinators accompany the reception centres (crèches and SAEs) in a given geographical area but with trips to the sub-region and the territory of the French Community.

The Counsellors are responsible for the follow-up of independent childcarers and work in a geographical area based on a number of childcarers per carer.

The Pedagogical Cousellors are available to the various childcare facilities in a given geographical sector (subregion). They also carry out Community-wide actions for the whole French-speaking Belgium.

Pre-primary, primary 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. They also carry out cross-cutting tasks, such as auditing.

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 Inspector-general-coordinator benefit from the pay scale used for a government employee (level 15 and level 16 respectively).

Inspectors may obtain leave, other than those mentioned in Article 98 of the Decree of 10 January 2019, 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 12 to 20 half-days of compulsory training every year. These training sessions lead to the issue of an attendance certificate. A maximum of 6 more half-days a year left to the initiative of the individual, may be attended during the staff member's period of service, 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.