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Countries - Belgium
1. Inclusion in general
education
In the Equal Educational Rights policy (Het gelijke onderwijskansenbeleid
voor het basisonderwijs, omzendbrief ref BaO/2003/01) the
Flemish authorities establish equal rights for each child
of school age. This is determined specifically in the right
of enrolment in the school of choice, the protection of these
rights, and support for integrated school settings.
Right to enrolment in the school of choice
In principle, every pupil has the right to enrol in the school
of his/her choice. This right is established since the school
year 2003-2004. There are some exceptions for children with
special needs with regards to education, therapy and care.
In principle, these students have equal rights; however, a
school can refer the pupil to a special school if the normal
school claims to have insufficient bearing power to provide
for all the special needs of the student. This referral should
be done in consideration with parents, school board, and centres
of student counselling.
In practice, this right of free school choice often seems
to be an empty box for children with disabilities. Parents
have a hard time finding a school that will accept their child
with a disability.
Most children with special educational needs still go to a
special school. There are 8 different school types for children
with disabilities in primary school. In secondary school there
are 4 types of schools.
Integrated and inclusive school settings
There are 2 main models for integrated settings in
Flanders: integrated education and inclusive education.
The starting point for integrated education is the idea that
by giving pupils with special needs additional support, they
can reach the same learning goals as the average regular student.
In integrated education, the student with special needs will
adapt more or less to the regular students. As a result, a
lot of disabled students are excluded from integrated education
because of their handicap. Integrated education exists since
1983.
In inclusive education, the emphasis is on the acceptance
of the personality and the abilities of each child, including
his/hers disabilities. In inclusive education, the pupil with
special needs will follow an independent trajectory and will
not work towards the same goals as the regular students. The
emphasis will be on social integration and acceptance of the
child within the class. Since 2003, the Flemish authority
regulated inclusive education and created 50 places for inclusive
education.
Both integrated and inclusive school settings are a close
cooperation between regular schools and school for children
with special needs. The aim is to provide part-time or fulltime,
permanent or temporary education in regular school for children
with special needs. For each integrated school setting a number
of additional teaching hours will be used by experts of the
special schools to assist the pupil and his/her teacher during
regular classes and to provide additional classes if necessary.
These experts can be teachers, paramedic services, social,
psychological or pedagogic professionals.
Children with disabilities can receive a budget for personal
assistance, which can be spend to facilitate the activities
of daily life and the living independently, for instance ADL
activities within the educational setting. However, this budget
cannot be used for the educational or pedagogical purposes.
In the education policy, inclusive education is cited as
the preferred and first option for all children with and without
disabilities. However, in practice this is not the general
rule. In 2002 (last numbers available from Vlaams Fonds),
1561 children participated in inclusive and integrated school
settings in 491 schools, while 26.794 children with special
needs attended special schools. The main obstacles for the
execution of the educational policy are unadapted formation
for teachers, incomplete information for parents, and the
lack of adapted support systems, financial as well as other.
As long as schools don’t get enough support to provide
for all the needs of students with special educational needs,
without disadvantage for the regular students, parents will
have difficulties finding their child with a disability an
integrated school setting.
2. Inclusion in Physical Education
Physical Education starts at preschool-level, where the children
receive 1 hour of physical education per week. In primary
school as well as secondary school, children have at least
2 hours of physical education, in special schools as well
as regular schools.
There are no specific regulations for PE in integrated and
inclusive education. If students in integrated settings are
not able to follow some classes due to their handicap, they
can be relieved from these classes. The classes will be replaced
by others.
School sports are not compulsory in Flanders, they are organised
by the Flemish Foundation of School Sports (Stichting Vlaamse
Schoolsport, SVS). Recently, this organisation started cooperating
with the Flemish league of disabled sports (Vlaamse Liga Gehandicaptensport,
VLG) to support and guide pupils with a disability in their
participation in school sports. Inclusive school sport is
organised on a personal level and at the moment limited to
the following sports: athletics, basketball, horseback riding,
shooting, skiing, tennis, table tennis cycling and swimming.
On regional level, the SVS organises recreational activities
for special schools, these activities are separate from the
main circuit.
Inclusion in sports and physical activity
The BLOSO (Commissariaat-generaal voor de Bevordering van
de Lichamelijke Ontwikkeling, de Sport en de Openluchtrecreatie)
is the public institution responsible for the subsidising
of sports federations. Three sports organisations are subsidised
and acknowledged under the same rules as the regular sports
organisations: the Flemish federation for disabled sports
(Vlaamse Federatie voor Gehandicaptensport vzw), Psylos vzw
and the Flemish League for disabled sports (Vlaamse Liga voor
gehandicaptensport). The latter is the only one organising
elite sports and participating in the Paralympics. The first
2 are recreational sports clubs.
Elite sports: the disciplines from the Paralympic program
are included in the general list of elite sports, as defined
in the current policy for elite sports. The Paralympic athlete
should get a medal at the Paralympics or world games to enjoy
get the statute of an elite athlete. Elite disabled sports
are supported by governmental funds, although less substantial
as regular elite sports. The elite paralympic athletes are
members of the Belgian Paralympic Committee, a partner of
the Belgian Olympic Interfederal Committee. In the newly proposed
sports policy, better support, financial as well as technical
is envisaged.
The education of coaches is organised by the BLOSO, more specific,
the Flemish School of Coaches (Vlaamse Trainers School, VTS).
De VTS organises a general course in sports for people with
a disability as well as sport-specific courses for horse-back
riding, wheelchair-basketball and swimming.
Apart from the general equal rights constitution, regulating
equal participation in all aspects of society, there is no
legal framework promoting integration and inclusion in sports
and physical activity. Without a specific policy on integration
in sports, integration will only take place on a personal
base and depend of the goodwill of the regular sports organisations.
Only 3 % of people with a disability participate in sports.
There are no specific numbers for integration of adapted sports.
Employment of youngsters with a disability
In Flanders, the Flemish Fund for Social Integration of Persons
with a Handicap (Vlaams Fonds voor Sociale Integratie van
Personen met een Handicap, VFSIPH) is the governmental institution
in charge of the employment of persons with a disability.
The fund is responsible for the execution of all regulations
with regards to the enhancement of integration of people with
a disability in the workplace. To have access to these regulations,
the employee with a disability has to enrol in the fund.
There are a number of special measures to facilitate the integration
of employees with a disability in the workplace.
1. Specialised information for youngsters with regards to
different career opportunities. This information is provided
by organisations subsidised and recognised by the fund.
2. Specialized job counselling and assistance throughout the
career. These services are integrated in the regular job counselling
circuit to enhance integration in the regular economic circuit.
3. The Budget for Personal Assistance (Persoonlijk Assistentie
Budget, PAB): this is a budget that can be used by persons
with a disability to provide for assistance during activities
of daily living. These can also be used for assistance at
the workplace.
4. Practical training: 12 centres throughout Flanders organise
practical training in integrated settings for persons with
a disability, the objective is the prepare persons with a
disability for full integration. During the practical training,
the trainees receive a wage from the Fund.
5. Employment quota: A law of 1963 defines employment quota
for private as well as public firms. For private firms, the
quota have never been operationalised or executed. For public
institutions, the quota has been reviewed in 1999. A minimum
of 2,5% of employees in public institutions should be persons
with a disability.
6. Support measures for employers: under certain conditions
the Fund subsidises wages of persons with a disability. Furthermore,
the employers can receive an integration allowance; this will
cover the costs of integration. Finally, employers can receive
an allowance for the adaptations made at the workplace if
necessary.
7. Support measures for employees: Employees with a disability
can get financial support for travel expenses, work clothes
and adapted tools or material support to enhance their independence.
For persons with a disability, unable to function in a regular
workplace, there are separate settings called sheltered workplaces
(beschutte werkplaats). In these workplaces, the person with
a disability can work according to his own capacities.
According to the guidelines of the European Commission, the
Flemish government approved the law of non-discrimination
and equal work participation (27/11/2000). The law covers
guidelines for equal rights in services for guidance in career
opportunities, training and education and job counselling.
In practice, this means employers can no longer discriminate
people with disabilities based on their disability.
However, the law is not widely known and has had little repercussions
on the employment of persons with a disability. This problem
is enhanced by the vagueness in the definitions of discrimination.
This definition should be operationalised before it can be
put in practice.
Despite the law of non-discrimination and the special regulations
for promotion of integrating people with a disability in regular
workplaces, persons with a disability are still less active
throughout there career. Most recent figures (up until 2002)
(E.Samoy, 2004) show on average, people with a disability
are 20 % less active than people without a disability. This
number varies, from 50 % for severely disabled to 10 % for
mildly disabled people.
Mieke Van lent
Sources
Handicap en Arbeid, Overzicht van Ontwikkelingen (1999-2004),
Update Augustus 2004, Erik Samoy
Vademecum van de maatregelen voor tewerkstelling van gehandicapte
werknemers. Bijgewerkt tot 1 oktober 2003
http://www.vlafo.be/
http://www.gripvzw.be/
http://www.vlaanderen.be
http://www.inclusiefonderwijs.be/
http://www.kbs-frb.be/
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