Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts will travel to London this week to visit a series of schools and education centres, seeking fresh ideas to tackle challenges back home. The working visit comes as Flanders grapples with declining test scores, teacher shortages and growing inequality in classrooms. By studying how British schools handle issues such as standards, inclusion and school autonomy, Weyts hopes to gather inspiration for reforms in the Flemish system.His London program includes meetings with headteachers, policy experts and education researchers, underscoring the increasingly cross-border search for effective solutions in European education policy.
Flemish minister seeks London lessons on tackling teacher shortages and boosting school autonomy
During the working visit, the Flemish Education minister plans to examine how England’s capital has combined greater school autonomy with clear accountability to raise standards and address chronic staff shortages. London’s experience with academy trusts and flexible staffing models is expected to be closely scrutinised, with a focus on how headteachers are empowered to make rapid decisions on recruitment, professional development and curriculum. The minister’s team is especially interested in how London schools attract mid-career switchers, retain young graduates in high-cost urban areas and keep classrooms staffed in subjects such as STEM and modern languages.
The visit will include meetings with local education authorities, school leaders and teacher training providers, offering a snapshot of reforms that could inspire a recalibration of Flemish policy. Key points on the agenda include:
- Recruitment pipelines: fast-track routes and partnerships with universities.
- Workload reduction: digital tools and streamlined administration.
- Leadership autonomy: budget control and staffing adaptability for school heads.
- Targeted incentives: bonuses and housing support in hard-to-staff areas.
| Focus Area | London Approach | Potential Takeaway for Flanders |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher Supply | Choice certification routes | Broaden entry paths into the profession |
| School Autonomy | Academy-style governance | More decision power for school boards |
| Retention | Mentoring and coaching schemes | Structured support for new teachers |
| Innovation | Piloting flexible timetables | Test new staffing models locally |
Inside the London schools inspiring Flanders approaches to inclusion digital learning and language support
Across the British capital, classroom doors are opening onto meticulously designed ecosystems where technology, language and pastoral care converge. In one primary school in East London, tablets loaded with multilingual dictionaries and speech-to-text apps allow newly arrived pupils to annotate lessons in their home language while following English explanations on the interactive whiteboard. Elsewhere, a secondary academy uses a data dashboard to track participation and progress of pupils with learning difficulties, allowing teachers to adapt tasks in real time. These schools tend to share a common philosophy: inclusion is not a specialist add-on, but something built into the timetable, the staff structure and even the layout of the building. Corridors double as quiet learning zones, libraries stock bilingual storybooks, and parent cafés offer translation support alongside information on the UK curriculum.
For policymakers in Flanders, the attraction lies in the way London schools turn policy into daily practice through small but deliberate choices, such as:
- Co-teaching models where language specialists work alongside subject teachers.
- Digital scaffolds like visual glossaries, subtitled lesson videos and adaptive learning platforms.
- Targeted mentoring for refugee and newly arrived pupils, supported by community organisations.
- Continuous assessment that uses both analogue and digital tools to identify emerging gaps early.
| Focus Area | London Practice | Potential for Flanders |
|---|---|---|
| Language Support | In-school language hubs | Regional language centres |
| Digital Learning | 1:1 device schemes | Blended learning pilots |
| Inclusion | Flexible learning spaces | Modular classroom design |
What Flanders can realistically adopt from the UK capital and what should remain uniquely Flemish
London’s school system offers a toolbox of ideas that could be pragmatically transplanted to Flemish soil. The capital’s emphasis on data-informed teaching, agile school leadership and structured support for disadvantaged pupils aligns with ongoing debates in Flanders about equity and quality. Flemish policymakers could explore introducing clearer frameworks for school accountability, targeted funding for learning gaps, and stronger collaboration between schools across city districts. Practical elements ripe for adaptation include:
- Evidence-based literacy and numeracy programmes with regular progress tracking
- Leadership training for principals focused on instructional quality
- City-wide partnerships with universities, cultural institutions and tech firms
- Flexible curriculum pathways that keep options open longer for pupils
| London Strength | Flemish Opportunity |
|---|---|
| High-performing urban academies | Pilot projects in dense city areas |
| Robust mentoring for new teachers | Retention boost in shortage subjects |
| External school reviews | Sharper focus on learning outcomes |
Yet, the strength of Flemish education also lies in what it should resist importing wholesale. The highly market-driven logic of some London schools,with intense competition for enrolment and branding,could clash with Flanders’ tradition of pluralism,accessibility and teacher autonomy. Preserving uniquely Flemish features means protecting:
- Rich multilingual and cultural education rooted in local communities
- Strong classroom autonomy that allows teachers to tailor methods to pupils
- Broad civic and arts education beyond narrow test preparation
- Balanced workload and well-being policies for staff and students
Policy road map for Flemish education turning London insights into concrete classroom reforms
Translating lessons from London into the Flemish context will require more than study visits and photo opportunities; it calls for a phased, measurable policy trajectory that reaches right down to the school gate. Education officials are expected to focus on three priority axes: early intervention in disadvantaged neighbourhoods,evidence-based teaching strategies,and stronger school leadership pipelines. Concretely, the ministry is eyeing pilot projects in selected urban schools, where London-style literacy and numeracy catch-up programmes could be embedded into the timetable, supported by targeted coaching for teachers. Parallel to this, the cabinet is exploring a leaner regulatory framework that gives school heads more autonomy over staffing and scheduling, in exchange for clear performance targets that will be closely monitored over a multi‑year period.
- Short-term (0-2 years): launch pilot schools, fund teacher training, set common data standards
- Medium-term (3-5 years): scale up triumphant interventions, refine inclusion policies, strengthen leadership training
- Long-term (5+ years): anchor reforms in legislation, simplify accountability systems, secure stable funding
| London Practice | Flemish Translation | Key Metric |
|---|---|---|
| Pupil premium for disadvantaged students | Targeted funding per at-risk learner | Gap in basic skills scores |
| School-led teacher training hubs | Regional centres for in-service training | Teacher retention rate |
| Data dashboards for school leaders | Standardised learning progress panels | Year-on-year progress index |
The political challenge will be to resist piecemeal cherry‑picking and instead embed these elements in a coherent strategy that survives election cycles. Officials close to the minister say the aim is to move swiftly from inspiration to implementation, with clear milestones and public reporting. That includes regular publication of school‑level outcomes,autonomous evaluations of each reform strand,and structured feedback loops with teachers,parents and pupils.By pairing bold ideas borrowed from London with a granular, locally anchored policy design, the Flemish government hopes to turn international benchmarking into tangible gains in classrooms from Antwerp to Ostend.
In Summary
As Weyts prepares for his London visit, expectations in Flanders remain measured but hopeful. The trip underscores how keenly the Flemish government is watching international benchmarks at a time of mounting concern over learning outcomes and teacher shortages at home. Whether classroom observations in the British capital will translate into concrete policy shifts in Brussels is far from certain, but the minister’s itinerary suggests that the search for solutions is no longer confined within national borders. For now, Flemish schools-and the professionals who run them-will be watching closely to see which lessons from London ultimately find their way into local classrooms.
