Types of institutions
Official education
Schools that fall under official education are organized by or on behalf of the government: the Flemish government, the provinces, cities, or municipalities.
These schools are neutral. Unlike free education, official education schools must, until the end of compulsory education, offer students the choice between classes in Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican, Jewish, or Islamic religion, or non-denominational ethics.
Free education
Schools not established by a government are considered part of free education.
Free education mainly consists of denominational schools, which are affiliated with a religion. Catholic schools make up the largest group. However, there are also free schools of other faiths, such as Jewish or Protestant schools.
In addition, there are free non-denominational schools that are not linked to any religion. These include various alternative-method schools.
Educational Networks and Umbrella Organizations
There are three educational networks. Within each network, there may be one or more umbrella organizations. These umbrella organizations are associations of school boards and organizing bodies. Their tasks include:
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Supporting school boards.
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Developing curricula and timetables, which school boards adopt.
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Representing school boards in negotiations with the government.
Each umbrella organization also has its own educational support services. These services develop initiatives to support and strengthen schools and teachers.
On the websites of these umbrella organizations, you can find the addresses of the schools they support and represent.
In Official Education
In official education, there are two networks:
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Community education is official education organized by the public institution GO! Education of the Flemish Community, on behalf of the Flemish government.
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Subsidized official education includes city and municipal education (organized by city and municipal authorities) and provincial education (organized by provincial authorities). The school boards are united under two umbrella organizations:
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Education Association of Cities and Municipalities (OVSG)
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Provincial Education Flanders (POV)
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In Free Education
In free education, there is one network: subsidized free education (gvo). A private individual or private organization organizes a school in this network. The school board is often a non-profit organization (vzw).
The largest group, Catholic schools, is represented by the umbrella organization Catholic Education Flanders (KOV).
Additionally, there are four organizations within free education. To better defend their interests, they are united in the consultation platform Consultation of Small Education Providers (OKO):
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Federation of Independent Pluralistic Emancipatory Method Schools (FOPEM)
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Federation of Steiner Schools
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Council of Organizing Authorities of Protestant-Christian Education (IPCO)
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Freethinking Independent Education Partners (VOOP)
Some free education schools are not affiliated with any umbrella organization.
Geographical accessibility
Secondary 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.
Admission requirements and choice of school
The following admission requirements apply to the first stage of 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.
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).
A student who has a first-stage certificate may be admitted to the second stage. A second-stage certificate is required for transfer from the second stage to the third stage. In a number of fields of study, a pupil can also transfer to the third stage on the basis of a relevant underlying vocational qualification.
Within a stage, in most schools the academic year evaluation applies: passing in the underlying year is necessary to be able to move on to the higher year. Until the beginning of the third stage, changes of study direction are allowed, obviously depending on the adaptability of the pupil concerned. In the course of the third stage, changes of study direction are only allowed in exceptional circumstances because it is assumed that the pupil's choice of study must then be definitive.
Schools may also opt for a degree evaluation system. In this case, the evaluation is postponed until the end of the degree and the student receives a certificate of regular class attendance after the first year of the stage.
For specific cases, the admission class council may deviate from these general rules and decide on the admission of a pupil itself. This is the case, among others, for pupils with high cognitive performance, pupils transferring from special to ordinary education or pupils transferring from non-Flemish education.
For the detailed admission conditions, see the Flemish Government decision of 19 July 2002 and the explanation in circular 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)
Age levels and grouping of pupils/students
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.
Organisation of the school year
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.
Organisation of the school day and week
School week
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.
School day
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.
| preschool care | Class | lunch break | Class | after-school care | |
| Monday | School autonomy | School autonomy - 8 a.m. at the earliest | minimum 50 minutes | school autonomy - between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | School autonomy |
| Tuesday | School autonomy | School autonomy - 8 a.m. at the earliest | minimum 50 minutes | school autonomy - between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | School autonomy |
| Wednesday | School autonomy | School autonomy - 8 a.m. at the earliest | minimum 50 minutes | school autonomy - between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | School autonomy |
| Thursday | School autonomy | School autonomy - 8 a.m. at the earliest | minimum 50 minutes | school autonomy - between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | School autonomy |
| Friday | School autonomy | School autonomy - 8 a.m. at the earliest | minimum 50 minutes | school autonomy - between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. | School autonomy |
| Saturday | no class | no class | no class | no class | no class |