Understanding foreign language education and bilingual education in Belgium: a (surreal) piece of cake

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present article is to provide an overview of the current state of affairs regarding foreign language education and bilingual education in the different parts of Belgium. In a brief historical contextualisation, we explain how language education in Belgium has been shaped by the country’s political and economic history, which has led to legal constraints concerning the language(s) of instruction as well as foreign language education. A paradoxical situation has now emerged: on the one hand, an apparently straightforward organisation of language education according to a ‘one community – one language’ principle; on the other hand, a complex and heterogeneous reality with respect to the organisation of the school system in general and language education in particular. We illustrate the present situation with figures from the different language communities (Dutch-, French-, and German-speaking) on (a) foreign languages learned at school in regular settings, and (b) alternatives to the regular framework that bypass the constrictive legislation, such as CLIL. The data reveal the intricate make-up of language education in Belgium, reflecting a tailor-made approach taken by each of the three official language communities.

KEYWORDS:

• Belgium
• foreign language education
• bilingual education
• CLIL
• Dutch
• English/EFL

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Elsa Albarello (Statistics Service of the Ministry of Education) and Catherine Lefevre (ETNIC, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles) for their invaluable cooperation and willingness to share the statistical data available. We are also grateful to Wim De Grieve and Dirk Delabastita for their useful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Krijgt Brussel meertalige scholen? De Standaard, 26-03-2019; Un projet d’école multilingue à Bruxelles. Le Soir, 26-03-2019.

2 Total population of Belgium on 1 January 2018 was 11,376,070. Source: http://statbel.fgov.be/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

3 https://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/government/regions/competence/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

4 https://www.belgium.be/en/about_belgium/government/communities [retrieved 10-04-2019].

5 This area belonged to Germany, but was added to Belgium in 1919 as compensation for its losses during World War I.

6 https://www.belgium.be/sites/default/files/belgium_at_a_glance_en_lowres.pdf [retrieved 10-04-2019].

7 http://www.vocabulairepolitique.be/commune-a-facilites/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

8 Law of 24 July 1961, art. 3 ‘[…] le recensement général de la population de 1961 ne comporte aucune question relative à l’emploi des langues; les effets du recensement linguistique, effectué le 31 décembre 1947, sont prolongés jusqu’à ce qu’une loi y mette fin’.

9 18 AVRIL 1898. - LOI relative à l'emploi de la langue flamande dans les publications officielles (Loi d'égalité - abrogée par L 1961-05-31/30, art. 9).

10 http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/politiek/1.1035144 [retrieved 10-04-2019].

11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0F8qf_Lqc8&NR=1&feature=endscreen [retrieved 10-04-2019].

12 http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi_loi/change_lg.pl?language=fr&la=F&cn=1963073031&table_name=loi [retrieved 10-04-2019]

13 https://www.vgc.be/sites/vgc/files/2019-06/1819_website_evolutie_NOB_samengevoegd.pdf [retrieved 25-11-2019].

14 Art. 6 of the 1963 law, http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/eli/loi/1963/07/30/1963073006/justel [retrieved 10-04-2019].

15 This is the case for 11 French-medium schools within the Flemish area, https://www.onderwijskiezer.be/v2/basis/basis_zoek.php?submit=zoeken [retrieved 10-04-2019].

16 http://www.taalwetwijzer.be/onderwijs/de_faciliteitengemeenten.html [retrieved 10-04-2019].

17 Art. 17–18 of the 1963 law stipulates schools should make sure parents comply with the language legislation, with room for small exceptions, which are controlled by the language inspection, http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/eli/loi/1963/07/30/1963073006/justel [retrieved 10-04-2019].

18 https://www.g-o.be/samen-leren-samenleven-ons-ppgo/ and http://www.enseignement.be/index.php?page=23725 [retrieved 18-12-2019].

19 https://www.ostbelgienbildung.be/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2201/ [retrieved 19-08-2019].

20 http://www.ostbelgienbildung.be/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-2403/4386_read-31707/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

21 Decreet Basisonderwijs 17 April 1997, https://data-onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/edulex/document.aspx?docid=12254#1022130 [retrieved 10-04-2019].

22 https://www.onderwijskiezer.be/v2/basis/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

23 https://www.vgc.be/sites/vgc/files/2019-06/1819_website_evolutie_NOB_samengevoegd.pdf [retrieved 25-11-2019]

24 https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20191211_04761485 and https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/fr/2019/12/10/l_apprentissage-du-francais-en-flandre-est-il-menace/ [retrieved 18/12/2019].

25 https://www.coe.int/en/web/common-european-framework-reference-languages/level-descriptions [retrieved 10/04/2020].

26 https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/taalkennis, https://data-onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/edulex/document.aspx?docid=14173 [retrieved 10-04-2019].

27 https://www.klasse.be/134834/leraren-basisonderwijs-frans-spreken/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

28 https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/01/15/studenten-kennen-onvoldoende-frans-uhasselt-voert-een-nieuw-vak/ [retrieved 06-01-2020].

29 Décret Bourgeois: ‘L’étude des langues modernes dans la région de langue française’, 21 February 1980, http://www.pfwb.be/le-travail-du-parlement/doc-et-pub/documents-parlementaires-et-decrets/documents/000048659 [retrieved 10-04-2019].

30 Rapport de la Commission de l’Enseignement, 7 December 1976, http://www.pfwb.be/le-travail-du-parlement/doc-et-pub/documents-parlementaires-et-decrets/documents/000361651 [retrieved 10-04-2019].

31 Art. 69 Decret 13 juillet 1998 in https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/fr/leg_res_02.php?ncda=22229&referant=l01 [retrieved 25-11-2019].

32 Decret 13 juillet 1998 in https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/fr/leg_res_02.php?ncda=22229&referant=l01 [retrieved 25-11-2019].

33 ‘Le jour où avec vos enfants et pour eux, vous aurez réussi à démêler cet obscur enchevêtrement où se croisent tant d’ignorance, de demi-vérités, de préjugés, de réflexes passionnels … vous aurez singulièrement facilité la tâche de leur professeur de néerlandais’ (du Ry 1962, 47)

34 Cartoon illustrating anybody present in a school is considered a potential teacher https://www.enseignons.be/2018/03/03/une-penurie-sans-fin/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

35 http://www.ecoles.cfwb.be/argattidegamond/Espace%20professeurs/guide_jeune_ens.pdf and http://www.ecoles.cfwb.be/argattidegamond/Espace%20professeurs/guide_jeune_ens.pdf [retrieved 10-04-2019].

36 Pacte d’excellence, Avis n°3, June 2017, p. 48, http://www.enseignement.be/ [retrieved 10-04-2019].

37 In 2018–2019, some 13,638 pupils attended the Schola Europea in Brussels and near Antwerp. Source: https://www.eursc.eu/en/Office/reports-statistics [retrieved 10-04-2019].

38 In German "mit erhöhter Förderung der Fremdsprache’ and ‘Sachunterricht’.

39 E-mail correspondence with Corina Senster, school inspector at the Ministerium der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft (3–5 May 2018).

40 https://data-onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/edulex/document.aspx?docid=14721 [retrieved 15-04-2019].

41 https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/clil-content-and-language-integrated-learning#Voorwaarden-voor-clil [retrieved 25-11-2019].

42 https://onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/clil-content-and-language-integrated-learning#Bottom [retrieved 19-08-2019].

43 Stimob (Stimulerend meertalig onderwijs Brussel), e.g. Van de Craen et al. (2007).

44 https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/fr/leg_res_02.php?ncda=22229&referant=l01 [retrieved 25-11-2019].

45 2003 (https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/27862_002.pdf), 2007 (https://www.gallilex.cfwb.be/document/pdf/32365_003.pdf), Circulaire n°4112 (24/08/2012), Circulaire n°5796 (30/06/2016), decree project 780 (March 2019).

46 EMILE: Enseignement d’une matière par intégration d’une langue étrangère; this acronym is a nod to Rousseau’s work on pedagogy Emile ou De l’éducation (1762).

47 Personal communication with the principal of a CLIL school, May 2018.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laurence Mettewie

Laurence Mettewie is professor of Dutch language and linguistics at the Université de Namur (Belgium). Her research focuses on societal aspects of multilingualism, multilingual education and emotional and socio-affective factors involved in SLA.

Luk Van Mensel

Luk Van Mensel is a postdoctoral researcher at the NaLTT Institute (Université de Namur, Belgium). He has published on a variety of subjects in SLA and sociolinguistics, and is the coordinator of the research project ‘Assessing Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Linguistic, cognitive and educational perspectives’.