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EACEA National Policies Platform
Belgium-French-Community

Belgium-French-Community

8. Creativity and Culture

8.10 Current debates and reforms

Last update: 28 November 2023

Forthcoming policy developments

  • Move the lines initiative and the Teaching Excellence Pact

The former Minister of Culture and Education launched the 19th January 2015 a consultation process including cultural and artistic operators and actors of permanent education sector.



This is called “Move the lines” (Bouger les lignes). It is co-managed by the Observatory of Cultural Policies, the General Administration of Culture with the support of PointCulture. 



Move the lines aims at adapting cultural policies to the evolution of society. It aims at building the new cultural offer of 21st Century for a 21st Century audience with the institution of the 21st Century. “Move the lines” is the preliminary phase of a deep and structural reform of cultural policies in the French-speaking Community. 

The Teaching Excellence Pact (pacte pour un enseignement d’excellence) is also a consultation process launched in 2015 which aims at strengthening the quality of education for every pupils.

See section 6.10 Current debates and reforms.



Both consultation process have issued a common working group which is the culture – school alliance (alliance culture – école). This working group developed the idea of a “cultural and artistic educational programme” as described below. 

  • Cultural and Artistic Educational Programme

The Minister of Education and the Minister of Culture have the ambition to implement a “cultural and artistic educational programme” (Parcours d’Education Artistique et Culturel).



The Government and the parliament will elaborate an action plan and the first measures should be implemented during the 3 next years.

It was firstly initiated by the former Minister of Education and Culture in 2015. 



The working group “culture – school alliance” has proposed to develop for every pupil, from primary to secondary school, a compelling “cultural and artistic educational programme” which will follow the pupil all along its formal education.



This programme aims to ensure to every pupils the access to culture and arts. With this in mind, the working group has made 14 propositions: 

  1. The programme is intended to all pupils ;
  2. From primary to secondary school ;
  3. The programme has 3 fields of action: the knowledge, the development of individual and collective practices, the encounter with artists and cultural / artistic work ;
  4. The programme is cross-disciplinary. It affects all subjects ;
  5. The teacher takes in charge the cultural part of every subject. The education “to” and “by” artistic subject needs specific learning practices and times ; 
  6. A number of hours will be allocated to encounters, visits, etc. according to the class’s needs ;
  7. The programme must be organised within the school’s time independently of an eventual extension of the school day;
  8. Skills base (référentiel de compétences) will have to be made for the knowledge and skills to gain during the programme, taking into account its transversal dimension ;
  9. The programme will have to be made by school’s headmasters and learning team in partnership with the cultural and artistic sector and integrated to the school’s management programme ;
  10. The training of teachers (higher education and lifelong learning) must take into account the implementation of the programme ; 
  11. The implementation of the programme needs the appointment of “cultural referent” to ensure a role of animation, information and networking ; 
  12. The programme is elaborated thanks to partnerships between cultural and education actors ; 
  13. The Department “culture – school” will be charged to ensure the implementation of the programme and to centralise and disseminate information related to the programme ;
  14. The constitutive elements of every pupil’s cultural and artistic programme could be gathered in an individual portfolio which would attest the accomplished work of the pupil in the cultural and artistic domain.  

Ongoing debates

Many debates took place in the belgian society about the reform of education, the Teaching Excellence Pact. More detailed information in section 6.10 Current debates and reforms in the Chapter 6 Education and training.