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YouthWiki

EACEA National Policies Platform
Belgium-French-Community

Belgium-French-Community

6. Education and Training

6.3 Preventing early leaving from education and training (ELET)

Last update: 28 November 2023

National strategy

The Teaching Excellence Pact, the education reform not yet implemented, plans to set up a global plan to tackle school dropout. This plan will be complementary to the youth guarantee dispositive. It sets the objective of decreasing by 50 % the school dropout by 2030 according to the 3rd recommendation of the Central Group for the Teaching Excellence Pact.



The measures are to: 

  1. Get an efficient system to collect data  and information to assess the development of the plan’s objective ; 
  2. Redefine the role and missions of actors and dispositives ; 
  3. Redefine the current dispositive of  coordination and dialogue in which actors take action ;
  4. Clarify numerous procedures including exclusion procedures.

The Minister of Education is responsible for the Pact.  

Formal education: main policy measures on ELET

At the moment, the following measure is applied through the decree of 21 November 2013 organising policy cooperation between the compulsory Education and the Youth Welfare sector to enhance well-being at school, school reintegration, prevention of violence and vocational guidance.



The decree’s objective is to, among others things, foster school integration by preventing school dropout, absenteeism and exclusion.

it defines the role and the articulation of 8 school’s actors: 



1.    The headmaster ; 

2.    Centres for Psychological-Medical-Social Services and Health Promotion Services at school ;

3.    The School Mediation Services ; 

4.    Mobile team ; 

5.    Pupils through pupil’s mediation training in order to foster peer-to-peer exchanges

6.    The Observatory of School violence and drop-out ;

7.    Administrative Service for the coordination of prevention actions for school violences, absenteeism, school drop-out and early school leaving (coordination des actions de prévention de la violence en milieu scolaire, de l'absentéisme, du décrochage scolaire et de l'abandon scolaire précoce) ;

8.    School attendance services (Service d’accrochage scolaire).



This decree is at the intersection of Youth Welfare and Education sector. The Minister of Youth Welfare and the Minister of Education are both responsible for it. 



More detailed information on main measures and policies in 2014 Eurydice report. (p 146)

Addressing ELET through non-formal and informal learning and quality youth work

Homework schools have an important role to play at preventing and reducing school dropout. They are dedicated to children and youngsters aged 6 – 15.

They provide after-school spaces and activities to support school work, to promote social integration and to carry out socio-cultural projects. The diversity of projects and actions is large (health, sport, youth welfare, social cohesion, etc.).

Therefore, homework schools target various public even if disadvantaged young people are mainly targeted.  



They are ruled by the decree of 28 April 2004. They are funded partly by the Youth Department and by the Birth and Childhood Office. 

Cross-sector coordination and monitoring of ELET interventions

The decree adopted on 21 November 2013 organises policy cooperation between compulsory education and youth welfare sector to enhance well-being at school, school reintegration, prevention of violence and vocational guidance. This decree makes cross-sectorial cooperation a legal obligation. 



School attendance services provide social, educational and pedagogical support to pupils who tend to drop out school. The work is done also with families.



Every Service develops its own actions and specificities. The responsible authority is the Minister of Education but the work of the school attendance service is at the intersection of youth work, youth welfare and education. The legal document related to this programme is the decree of 21 November 2013. 



The website “Accroch’AJE” implements one objective of the decree of 21 November 2013. It aims at facilitating contacts and collaborations between actors from both sectors (education and youth welfare).