The German-speaking Community of Belgium is in the process of developing an overall vision for its education system (the Gesamtvision Bildung), which aims to guide reforms to promote greater educational quality and equity. Following a first phase of the process, which consisted of a bottom-up diagnosis based on stakeholder perspectives, the OECD was invited to complement these insights with an international perspective on the German-speaking Community’s school system. This Education Policy Review aims to support the development of the Gesamtvision Bildung by providing an independent analysis of the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of the Community’s education system.

The German-speaking Community is a small jurisdiction and home to around 12 200 students from the pre-primary to the upper secondary level. Despite its small size, the German-speaking Community has a complex and diversified education landscape, comprised of three distinct school networks. School providers enjoy a high degree of pedagogical autonomy concerning, among others, the methods applied in their schools as well as the recruitment of staff. The principle of “freedom of education” also guarantees parents the right to free school choice. The Ministry of the German-speaking Community is responsible for formulating the Community’s education policy and oversees its implementation in all schools. It provides most of the public subsidies for education as well as the core curricula (Rahmenpläne), describing the competencies students are expected to develop at key stages of primary and secondary education.

This chapter summarises the main findings and key recommendations of the OECD education policy review of German-speaking Community of Belgium. Following the structure of the report, it focuses first on strengths and challenges concerning the governance of the school system, the use of data to steer education policy and the funding of schools in the Community. The chapter then summarises the key findings related to equity and inclusion, focusing on newcomer students, students with special education needs and gifted students before presenting key strengths and challenges related to the quality of teaching, school leadership and learning environments. The chapter closes with a selection of policy recommendations addressing the challenges identified by the OECD review team. For the full set of strengths and challenges identified by the OECD review team and the corresponding policy recommendations, readers are encouraged to refer to the report’s main substantive chapters. The education policy review was undertaken by a team of OECD Secretariat staff and an external expert. The findings presented here take into account a background report prepared by the Ministry of the German-speaking Community of Belgium; interviews conducted with public officials, institutional representatives and stakeholders during a virtual review visit in May 2021; and the subsequent document review and analysis by the OECD review team.

This chapter provides an overview of the main contextual features of the German‑speaking Community’s education system, including recent reforms, developments influencing educational planning and the use of resources in the education sector. It also presents the main characteristics of the German‑speaking Community’s education system itself (from pre‑primary to upper secondary education), including its structure and governance, its main educational goals and mechanisms for quality assurance. The chapter further presents the available evidence on the system’s performance and equity in international comparison, and highlights ongoing policy developments that provide the context for the Community’s development of its overall vision for the education system.

This chapter covers the governance, organisation, and funding of school education in the German‑speaking Community of Belgium. It analyses the distribution of responsibilities for financing and administering schools in the Community, the overall education budget and the distribution of funding across levels of education, school types, school networks and resource categories. The chapter also considers the role of strategic planning and the use of data to steer education policy in the Community. Finally, the chapter analyses the organisation and scope of the educational provision, the co‑ordination between sectors (general and vocational education) and students’ transitions across levels of education and into the labour market.

This chapter covers equity and inclusion in the education system of the German‑speaking Community of Belgium. It first describes historical developments related to equity and inclusion in the German‑speaking Community, before discussing recent reforms and providing descriptive information on the Community’s diverse student population. The chapter focuses on newcomer students, students with special education needs (SEN) and gifted students. An analysis of the system’s strengths and weaknesses is followed by several policy recommendations designed to foster equity and inclusion in the education system.

This chapter focuses on the teachers, teaching and school leadership in the German‑speaking Community. It addresses the initial preparation and recruitment of teachers and school leaders, their continuing professional learning, working conditions and career development. It also looks at the school evaluation process, the capacity for school improvement and schools as learning organisations. The chapter identifies strengths and challenges related to these policy areas and concludes with policy options to address them.