The organisation of the academic year 2025 /2026 in German-speaking Community of Belgium is as follows:

There are no alternative organisational models or structures in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the German-speaking Community.

However, there are alternative schooling structures available for compulsory school-aged learners. According to Article 23 of the Decree of 31 August 1998 on the mission of school providers and school staff, as well as on the general pedagogical and organisational provisions for mainstream and special schools, parents or legal guardians can choose between enrolling their child in a school or opting for home education.

Objectives and assessibility

See 3.2.

Personnel requirements and child/staff ratio

The legal basis for childcare in the German-speaking Community is 

Admission requirements and choice of ECEC setting

In the German-speaking Community, all kindergartens are school-based institutions and are always attached to primary schools; together, they form what is referred to as primary schools. 

There is a relatively high density of schools. Each of the nine municipalities of the German-speaking Community organises primary schools or branches of primary schools in all larger villages – even if they have fewer than a dozen kindergarten pupils and fewer than 20 primary school pupils. 

Admission requirements and choice of ECEC facilities

Guaranteed place

No guaranteed place for infant care under 2.5 years of age

ECEC facilities are accessible to all parents in the German-speaking Community. However, there is no guarantee that every child will be allocated a care place, and even less so that a place will be available at the preferred location. 

Self-employed childminders and co-childminders are free to decide to whom they offer their care places.