Organization of first stage secondary education

First stage secondary education is divided into two grades. The first grade has an A stream and a B stream. Most pupils with a certificate of primary education enter the A stream.

The B stream is intended for pupils without a certificate of primary education or for pupils who are less suited to predominantly theoretical education. After the 1st year B, pupils in principle move on to the 2nd year B. However, there is the possibility of moving on to the 1st year A and even to the 2nd year A. 

The second year A offers the choice of several basic options in addition to basic education. Each pupil chooses one basic option. It prepares the student to choose, in the second stage, a field of study in the transfer finality or the double finality (general (aso), technical (tso) or art secondary education (kso)).

The 2nd stage B, like the 2nd stage A, offers the choice of several basic options in addition to basic education. The student chooses up to three basic options. Most of the basic options prepare the pupil to choose one of the fields of study in the labor market finality (in vocational secondary education (bso)) in the second stage, but there is also a basic option that specifically prepares pupils to make the transition to the flow-through finality or dual finality.

A school must offer both first and second grades in the first stage. The school board is free to choose whether to offer the A stream, the B stream or both. It is also the school board that decides which basic options it wishes to set up in the second stage, after consultation in the school community to which the school belongs.

About 130,000 young people, or 32% of secondary school students, are enrolled in first stage.

First-stage schools are spread fairly evenly across the territory in the various educational networks. The legal program standards allow the establishment of schools under certain conditions where certain favorability standards (i.e., lower minimum pupil numbers) apply in order to achieve distribution throughout the territory.

Parents and students are free to choose their schools. See Fundamental principles and policies for more info. The Flemish government offers a tool to find a suitable school.

The following admission requirements apply to the first stage of secondary education:

• first year A: primary education certificate
• first year B: age of 12, pupils who have finished primary education or holders of the certificate of primary education (subject to conditions)
• second year A: graduated in first year A, first year B or second year B
• Second year B: passed in first grade A or B or age of 14 years

The Admission Class Council may deviate from these general rules.

The detailed admission requirements were included in a decision of the Flemish Government (July 15, 2022) and explained in a Omzendbrief SO 64 (25/06/1999).

Parents, in agreement with the pupil, have the right to enroll in the school of their choice. Enrollment is for the duration of the entire school career (guaranteed school career) unless the school board or parents decide to deregister the student. Enrollment rights, procedures and priority regulations apply. See Fundamental Principles and Policies for more info. Parents must agree in writing to the school regulations and educational project.

A school board may conditionally refuse to enroll a student if:

• the pupil does not meet the admission, transition or entry requirements on the day of effective entry;
• the purpose of the pupil's enrollment is to alternate between schools during that school year;
• the capacity is exceeded;
• the level in which the pupil wishes to enroll has been declared full;
• the pupil was deregistered from the school the current school year, the previous school year or the preceding school year as a result of permanent exclusion as a disciplinary measure;
• the pupil was deregistered elsewhere as a result of permanent exclusion as a disciplinary measure;
• the pupil has specific educational needs and wishes to enroll with a record in ordinary education.

For the application of the enrolment right to secondary education: see Omzendbrief SO/2012/01(for enrolments in ordinary secondary education up to and including the 2022-2023 school year and for enrolments in special secondary education up to and including the 2024-2025 school year) and SO/2022/02 (for enrolments in ordinary secondary education from the 2023-2024 school year onwards)

A characteristic feature of secondary education is that the curriculum is taught by different teachers. Each teacher teaches one or more subjects according to his/her certificate of competence. The maximum/minimum class size and the filling of these classes with pupils of different age groups belongs to the autonomy of the school or school group. Admission of a student to a particular stage and program within that stage (which consists of one class or several parallel classes) depends on the admission conditions. One such admission option, which is also the most common, is admission based on prior education. Since a student must sometimes repeat a grade (if unsuccessful) or may change courses in his/her curriculum and therefore sometimes repeat, this means that a class group is not always composed of students of the same age.

The school board has great freedom regarding the organization of the school day, school week and the school year in secondary education.

The school year begins on September 1 and ends on August 31. This 12-month period is interrupted by various vacations during which classes are suspended:

• autumn vacations (1 week)
• Christmas vacations (2 weeks)
• Spring break vacations (1 week)
• Easter vacations (2 weeks)
• summer vacations (2 months)

The non-holiday periods are spent on classes and on other educational activities that are assimilated to classes such as, for example, internships, workplace learning, school trips and exams. The regulations lay down the lesson distribution on a daily and weekly basis, but the school board may deviate from it for well-founded reasons as long as this does not interfere with the normal teaching volume on a school year basis and the completion of the curricula.

For precise regulations, see Omzendbrief SO 74.

Secondary education classes shall be spread over 9 half-days from Monday through Friday; this does not include apprenticeships. Within that time frame, "full-time secondary education" is furnished for at least 28 50-minute class periods.

The total number of weekly teaching periods financed by the government varies according to the grade and form of education, 36 hours being the maximum. The school board may establish class schedules that exceed the government maximum if it funds them itself.

Classes start at 8 am at the earliest and end between 3 and 5 pm. There is a lunch break of at least 50 minutes. The number of class hours per half-day is fixed on a weekly basis only.