Belgium: A visit to the VVA in Flanders

 

 Readingtime: 8 minutes

 

Tomorrow we will leave this beautiful place in the south of France. We have visited a wonderful institution, about which I will report soon.

 

We are heading for Spain. We have two appointments there now. One in La Garriga near Barcelona and one that I don't want to reveal yet. On our way back north in a few weeks, we will hopefully visit a school in France.

 

So far, the travelling is going well. Cato doesn't like driving but because we travel relatively small distances every day, she is fine. She is visibly cheered up by the variety and the beauty that we encounter.

 

 

 

The problem with google maps I solved with a pre-paid card, so hopefully we can continue our journey on the secondary roads.

 

A while ago, I visited the Flemish Autism Association. That visit is the subject of the following post.

 

Visit to Flanders

 

There are five different types of secondary education in Belgium: general, technical, artistic, vocational and exceptional secondary education. The last one is what we call special education in the Netherlands. It also used to be called exceptional education in the Netherlands. Minister of Education Jos van Kemenade changed it in 1975 with his 'outline memorandum' to special education because the word 'exceptional' had acquired an unpleasant tinge over the years. It was said to overemphasize the special nature of children. Meanwhile, it has long been clear that changing only the name is not the solution.

 

In Belgium, compulsory education for children up to 12 years of age was introduced in 1914. No doubt for the same reason as in the Netherlands, to prevent children from being put to work at home, or sent to work in the factories. Moreover, those same factories needed more and better educated people.  In Belgium too, the school age was gradually raised to 16 and then 18. Home education was allowed from the very beginning and that still is the case.

 

The law of 1914 also stipulated that every school of significant size had to have a class for children who could not keep up with the normal pace. This condition for schools has been forgotten over the years I think, because Belgium has the same problem as the Netherlands.

 

In 1970 the law was passed for exceptional education. exceptional education should only be attended in very exceptional cases. Children had to go to an ordinary school as much as possible. It did not work. Exceptional education grew.

In 2014, exactly one hundred years after the introduction of the Education Act with the condition of the special class, the M-decree was issued in response to the UN resolution for an inclusive society. This stated once again what Belgium has actually been striving for, for a hundred years, namely: Children must attend a regular school and may only attend a school for exceptional education in very exceptional cases. The regular school must make use of the facilities provided by the government. But it did not work. Today, almost 50,000 children of the approximately 900,000 children in Flanders between the ages of 6 and 18 attend a special school. According to official figures, 3,000 children receive a recognized form of home education.

 

 

Visit to the Flemish Autism Association (VVA) in Ghent

 

‘What we want for our children in schools would be good for all children. More peace, more time, more space. Less pressure and less obligation.’

 

On a Thursday before dawn I leave for Ghent to visit the VVA, the Flemish Autism Association. The association is having an information day today, 'Autism & Work' is the theme. I will meet Dorothée Ryckman, an employee of the VVA, and perhaps other parents. The train leaves at 7.14 from Rotterdam Central Station. A quick walk with the dog beforehand. Breakfast is out of the question. Fortunately, it is only a ten-minute cycle to the station, so I still have time to buy a sandwich and an expensive but very tasty juice at AH to go. What a blessing that you can pay there yourself and don't have to queue up. It makes all the difference when you have to leave so terribly early.

In the train, I prepared myself for the meeting. A few weeks ago, Dorothée sent me a clear explanation of the Belgian education system. I read it through again.

 

The VVA has its seat in the most beautiful location you can imagine. The Great Beguinage in Ghent. When I arrive at the gate just after half past nine, it is still early, so I allow myself a stroll through this oasis of peace. Because that is what it is and that is how it is described at the gate. May it stay that way!

 

At exactly ten o'clock I report at the location of the information day and I am received hospitably with a good cup of coffee. At 11 o'clock, a discussion group about work and autism is on the program, which I can join. Dorothée and I have an hour to talk.

 

Dorothée is mother of an autistic daughter. She teaches her at home. That is allowed in Belgium. She tells us that her daughter came home from school so exhausted that even at the weekend she had no energy left to go to her club or to visit friends. Now that she doesn't have to go to school anymore, she feels much calmer and feels much better. It was the pressure and the workload that were killing her at school. Dorothée says that her daughter is motivated to learn. Every morning at a quarter past eight, when Dorothée herself gets to work (she works at home), her daughter sets herself next to her at the desk and gets to work.

 

Children who are home schooled by their parents can take their final exams in Brussels at the Central Examination Commission. It takes some paperwork and you also have to make a plan, but Dorothée says it's all manageable for her.

Her husband supervises one half of the subjects and she does the other half. ‘But,’ she says, ‘my daughter is doing more and more just by herself.’

 

Parents who provide home education receive no money to hire help, for example, or to buy books. The extra allowance parents of school-age children receive is also cancelled because these children are no longer enrolled in a school.

 

 

 

When we start the discussion group at eleven o'clock, we immediately decide to have it in the garden. After all, it is glorious spring weather. The group is not very large. We are seated at a lived-in teak table on the grass in the sunshine.

First, there is a round of introductions, but this gets stuck at the second mother. This mother tells us that it is her first time at an information day of the VVA. When she starts talking about her son, she is almost immediately in tears. As strong as she probably is when she has to stand up for her son at school, she is filled with emotions as soon as she feels that she is among people who understand her. Her story is familiar to everyone at the table. Some have autism themselves, others have a child with Ass. They all recognise the events she describes. And this mother from the Netherlands recognises it too. Why? I can only think. What is the added value for a society to drive mothers to despair like this?

 

In Belgium too, some kind of inclusive education has been introduced, but implementation in schools is lagging behind. Still, I have the feeling that Belgium has created opportunities that we do not have in the Netherlands. Apart from home schooling which is not allowed in the Netherlands, you can study for example, with an adapted curriculum. Both at secondary school and at university. You can also spread out the exams.

The chairman of the info day has studied at university thanks to this Individual Adapted Curriculum (IAC) and says that you have to fill in the right papers and hand them in to the professor and then you can decide for yourself. It depends on the way the university works how and what you have to do to get permission for it. But it is allowed and it is done.

In secondary school, you may leave out subjects or take another equivalent course, but you may also, if you are very fast in something, sit in a higher class for that subject. However, you are not allowed to do the subjects at different levels.

 

Still, one of the mothers says that it was not enough for her daughter. The school must have possibilities to offer this.

 

The other people present can only agree that the degree of willingness to adapt something depends on the school. The schools in Belgium, just like in the Netherlands, can simply say no to a child. And then you are empty-handed as a parent.

 

After the discussion table, I meet Birgit Riské, a volunteer at the VVA. She knows a lot about the laws and regulations and, like me, has fought in vain for more hospitable education. She becomes enthusiastic when she hears about Acato, but I see a sad look come into her eyes when I tell her about the way we are thwarted. It is no different here in Belgium. She makes a statement that you often hear from parents of children who drop out:

 

'What we wish for our children at school would be good for all children. More peace, more time, more space and less pressure, less obligations. I can only agree with her.

 

What will I take away from this wonderful day in Ghent?

 

Individual Adapted Curriculum: AIC

 

Teaching by parents: Homeschooling

 

Question: How can we organize the social life of a child who is home schooled?

 

De Vlaamse Vereniging voor Autisme: VVA

 

 

Next time: Visit to Autisme-Aube in Troyes France.

 

 

Ps. We did not manage to visit a school in Flanders. This was partly due to our chaotic departure. It was unclear for a long time whether we would be able to make this trip.  In the end, we left a bit later and there was actually no time left. Our aim is namely to visit a certain part of Europe before the start of the school holidays.

 

Dorothée did give me a tip: Lab education in St-Amands. I asked the director if I could visit them. But this school is so special that they get lots of requests for a tour. To protect themselves, they now ask for a fee of € 350. Understandable but I cannot afford it. Which school is this: Lab-school, St-Amands

It is nice to visit the website. It is a pity though, I have not been able to ask them what they can do or would like to do for children who need more space and more time.