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EACEA National Policies Platform
Belgium-French-Community

Belgium-French-Community

8. Creativity and Culture

8.5 Developing cultural and creative competences

Last update: 28 November 2023

Acquiring cultural and creative competences through education and training

Formal learning



The decree on the missions of schools states that every subsidised school must arouse interest for culture and creativity and foster the participation to cultural and sports activities by collaborating with the identified actors” (art. 8).  Schools must also “adapt their study programme and learning project to the importance of Arts, media literacy and body language (art. 9). 

These lines are general and do not compel any schools to implement it in a specific way. Schools are free to implement it the way they want to. Thus, at the moment, there is no structural offer. It depends on the school and on the teacher (school's projects, personal interest, etc.). 



Therefore, there are public initiatives to foster and facilitate the collaborations between Culture and Education.  

  • The decree of 24 march 2006 revised on 3 April 2014 related to the implementation, promotion and strengthening of collaborations between Culture and Education (décret relatif à la mise en oeuvre, la promotion et le renforcement des collaborations entre la Culture et l’Enseignement) is one of these tools. 



    It aims at supporting cultural and artistic activities at school. It works through collaboration between schools and cultural operators (long term cooperation, punctual cooperation, etc.). This decree is implemented by a cross-sectorial department: the Culture-Education Service. See section 8.8 Synergies and partnerships

     
  • In the Brussels Region, the French Commission Community of Brussels has organised a programme to subsidise Culture/Education programmes. It is called culture is classy (la culture a de la classe).  

     
  • For the future, the Minister of Education and the Minister of Culture have the ambition to collaborate to implement a “cultural and artistic educational programme” (Parcours d’Education Artistique et Culturel - PECA). With this programme, culture and creative competences will be included in the formal curricula of each pupil. Culture and creativity will become a separate subject at school. See section 8.10 Current debates and reforms.

Non-formal learning



The General Administration of Culture of the French-speaking Community funds and recognises cultural operators. Some of them must, among other missions, organise learning activities for young people:

  • In the youth cultural sector, the Youth Department funds youth organisations and youth centres. They organise sociocultural voluntary extracurricular activities. They aim at promoting the development of a critical, active and responsible citizenship (CRACS). They do it through developing responsible and participative attitudes towards social, economic, cultural and political life as well as putting into practice and promoting sociocultural practices and creation. Some of them, especially youth centres, work on developing creative and cultural skills with young people. 

     
  • Expression and Creativity Centre, according to the decree of 30 April 2009 revised in 2016, must stimulate creativity by organising workshops and socio artistic projects.  They address the entire population including young people. There are 11 Centres which also have the recognition of the Youth sector as a youth organisation or as a youth centre (La Baraka, Circonflex, Interpôle, Le foyer des jeunes, bibi ASBL centre de promotion humaine, Atelier créatif de pierreuse, Atelier créatif mosaïque, Caj Mir, Les Abeilles, La Prairie). 

     
  • Recognised Cultural Centres must, among other missions, provide cultural activities to young people (cultural awareness, creative workshops, etc.) according to the decree of 21 November 2013 related to Cultural Centres

     
  • Recognised public libraries organise cultural and creative activities for schools and young people after school according to the decree of 30 April 2009 related to the development of lecture practices organised by the reading public network and public libraries. 

     
  • The decree of 3 May 2012 related to the recognition and the funding of museums and other museum institutions includes in the museum’s missions the development of learning activity programme and the creation of learning tools targeting young people.

There are no guidelines for the recognition of cultural and creative competences acquired through non formal learning. 

Specialised training for professionals in the education, culture and youth fields

Formal education



There are 19 higher education schools of arts according to eurypedia in the French-speaking Community. 

There is a specialised study programme for students who want to be teachers in formal education. This is the “agrégation”. It provides students with teaching methodologies. It is complementary to others studies (Art History, mathematics, etc.). 



Non-formal education

  • The ministerial circular organising the support of training programmes for animators and socio-cultural and socio-artistic action recognises and funds training operators in the youth sector. See section 5.7. "Learning to participate" through formal, non-formal and informal learning.  
  • The BAGIC is a specialised training for cultural and social project’s coordinators. The French-speaking Community delivers certificate of aptitude to cultural institutions management and to the coordination of cultural and socio cultural global projects. This 2-years training is organised by 5 training operators funded by the French-speaking Community.
  • In partnership with the European Social Fund, the General Service of Youth and Permanent Education has launched for the year 2017-2018 a call for projects “Investing in cultural jobs” (Investir les métiers de la culture). This programme is in the framework of the measure 3.2 of FSE action plan for the French-speaking Community: train and support job seekers and vulnerable people in order to insert them on the labour market. It aims at supporting projects which develop innovative trainings for professionals in the cultural sector.

    The targeted jobs must be new, in the cultural sector and meet one of the following criteria: 
  1. New cultural jobs in the digital era ;
  2. New cultural jobs linked with intercultural issues ;
  3. Existing cultural jobs needing to be highlighted ; 
  4. Jobs related to training, animation, support in the non-formal education. 

Providing quality access to creative environments

There are many public policies and programmes to ensure access to creative environments to young people. The main programmes are organised for schools. 



French-speaking Community’s policies



Many cultural operators develop creative environments for young people as demanded in decrees.

 

1.    The decree related to Cultural Centres 

In application of the decree, cultural centres run regular work on mediation and accessibility for young people to culture. They have a pricing policy to support young people to access cultural performances. They also work on raising awareness of young people in schools on creativity and culture. 

They have a central role in bringing theatre to schools. 



2.    The decree related to childhood and youth theatre 



This decree organises the support for young creators and the recognition and the funding of theatre companies targeting young people.  

The decree recognises 2 “dramatic centres” for childhood and youth: Pierre de Lune in Brussels and the “Walloon dramatic centre for childhood and youth” in Wallonia. Their specific missions are to promote and disseminate performances from theatre companies, to offer learning support to teachers and to raise awareness and give young people access to the discovery of theatre and artistic languages. 

Their target group are young people during school time or not.  



3.    The decree related to collaborations between School and Culture 

Further information on this decree in section 8.8 synergies and partnerships.



4.    The decree related to the development of reading practices organised by the reading public network and the public libraries



5.    The decree related to expression and creative centres



The mission of Expression and Creative Centres is to stimulate creativity by organising workshops and socio-artistic projects. Some Centres are also recognised as youth centres. Then, their action focus mainly on young people. 



6.    The decree related to the recognition and the funding of museums 



7.    The decree related to permanent education

A lifelong learning association (association d'éducation permanente)aims at developing, mainly for adults, a critical knwoledge of society's relaities, capacities of analyse, action and evaluation, responsible attitudes and active participation to social, cultural, economic and political life. 



8.    The decree related to Youth Organisations

Further information in section 1.4 Youth policy decision-making.



9.    The decree related to Youth Centres

Further information in section 1.4 Youth policy decision-making.



10.  The decree related to Homework Schools

Further information in section 1.4 Youth policy decision-making.





French-speaking Community’s programmes 

  • Books and Letters General Service of the General Administration of Culture

-    Programme “writer in the classroom



Writers, illustrators meet young people in primary and secondary school, share their experience and organise creative workshops. The Books and Letters department supports the practical costs (travel expenses of authors, fees, etc.). 

-    Annual contest the fury to read (La fureur de lire)

This contest focuses on kids from 3 to 13 years old. It is coordinated and funded by the Books and Letters department. Young participants are invited to create drawings, songs, texts, movies, etc. about a selection of 12 books. The winners receive rewards such as cultural vouchers, cultural activities admission tickets, etc.

 

-    Programme “initiating pupils to regional languages”



The department of regional and endogenous language of the French-speaking Community provides teachers with learning tools to support them in developing awaking activities on regional languages (wallon, gaumais, picard, bruxellois) among young people. 

  • Territorial Action General Service (libraries, cultural centres) of the General Administration of Culture

Museobus: it is a wandering museum which offers exhibitions and animations on several themes. It moves on the territory of the French-speaking Community on demand. 

  • Artistic creation General Service (theatre, arts, music) of the General Administration of Culture

-    The programme “performance in schools” 



This programme aims at giving the access to kids and young people to quality artistic and cultural performance in schools. 

The programme is divided into 2 dispositives: the programme “theatre at school” and the programme “song at school”. 

The funding partners are: 

  1. The department of “theatre arts diffusion” (service des arts de la scène) of the French-speaking Community ;
  2. Cultural Services of the Provinces ; 
  3. The French Community Commission of Brussels. 

They take in charge a part of the selling price of the selected show. 

-    Sixth-form student prize for French-speaking Belgian cinema 



Sixth-form students are invited to elect their favourite film among those produced by the French-speaking Community. They watch the movies during school time, then discuss it. They are also invited to review the movie and to create their own work inspired from the movies. They can meet the directors and actors to discover the cinema realities and jobs. It was launched in 2006.



-    Sixth-form student prize for French-speaking for literature



Pupils of 5th and 6th years of secondary school are invited to read 5 novels issued from the French-speaking Community and to elect their favourite. In extension, the activity offers also the possibility to receive writers in class. Based on their readings, they discuss and work on their creativity by creating their own poems, comics, paintings, etc. It was launched in 1993.



-    Budding journalists (journalistes en herbe)



This is a contest targeting pupils of 6th year of primary school and pupils of 1st and 2nd year of secondary school. They are invited to create their own newspaper. It was launched in 2008.



-    « Quartz de la chanson » 



This is a contest targeting pupils in 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th year of secondary school regarding the musical universe. It was launched in 2009.  



-    « On stage » (Sur les planches)

 

Pupils of 4th, 5th or 6th year of secondary school are invited to participate to a theatre festival. Participants work on a theatre play and perform it in a real theatre. The department Culture-school, which organises and funds the activity, cooperates with various theatres. It was launched in 1999.



-    “Look again at my cultural heritage” (Mon patrimoine revisité)



This is a contest for pupils of 1st and 2nd year of primary school. They are invited to visit their city, local traditional event, etc. They choose a piece of local art (painting, monument, etc.) and reimagine it through fine arts. It was launched in 2016.



-    “Rhythmic poems contest” (concours de slam)



Participants are invited to create their own rhythmic poems and to recite them in public. They attend writing workshops, they meet profesionnals, etc. It was launched in 2016.