Thousands of young people risk falling by the wayside after abolition of part-time vocational education | Education

“There is a good chance that these very vulnerable young people will have nowhere to go,” says Carl Malfliet, coordinator at the Edugo school group in Ghent and a member of the action group ‘Don’t forget DBSO’. Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts (N-VA) said that the reform just came about because the existing system “was not adapted to this target group”.

In recent years, the Flemish government has spared no expense or effort to get dual learning off the ground. Since the 2019-20 school year, it has also been a full-fledged trajectory in secondary education. This school year, 2,800 students are enrolled in that process, but the Court of Audit recently had to conclude that that number remains limited because schools and companies are putting the brakes on. From the opposition in the Flemish parliament, the “good news show” has been denounced for some time.

Members of Parliament Elisabeth Meuleman (Groen) and Hannelore Goeman (Vooruit) explain the figures mainly due to the compulsory encapsulation of part-time vocational education, while dual learning is not geared to the needs of these pupils.

That’s what Malfliet says too. “It was never considered that the target group of the DBSO, with many vulnerable young people, is not the target group of dual learning,” he says. “Traditional education is not the right place for them: they end up in the part-time profession because of the waterfall system and are tired of school, and also have problems at home, psychological problems…”

Weyts emphasizes that the existing system “never delivered the hoped-for result”. “Many of these young people were simply sitting at home, with no offer,” said the cabinet. So something had to change, because these young people were not gaining enough work experience.

In the current system, these young people receive tailor-made guidance, albeit through trial and error. “The planned changeover now jeopardizes everything,” denounces Malfliet. “The qualified outflow from the DBSO is around 50 percent each year. Weyts then says that it concerns ‘only’ half, but as far as we are concerned that is a success: these are young people who would otherwise not obtain a diploma.”

The new system is also accompanied by far too strict criteria, according to the field. For example, dual learning obliges prospective graduates to be employed in paid employment. “But what happens if a student loses his job, for example due to bankruptcy?”, explains Malfliet. “Or what about jobs in sectors such as healthcare, where resources are scarce and there is a large supply of unpaid trainees? There was never a conclusive answer to these questions.”

Weyts can hear that some adjustments have been made to ensure that the most vulnerable students do not fall by the wayside. For example, the start-up phase will include a preparatory trajectory for students who are not yet able to start dual learning immediately, and a tailor-made qualifying trajectory has been developed.

Despite signals from schools, politicians and civil society, in reports from the Social and Economic Council of Flanders (SERV) and the Flemish Education Council (VLOR), the encapsulation continues. The Weyts cabinet also confirms this. It is of course carefully and continuously monitored, so that we can make adjustments where necessary.

“As far as the government is concerned, no major change can be made as long as there are no indications that things are going wrong, but it may be another four years before we have full VDAB figures,” says Malfliet. The damage will be done by then, the school coordinator fears, who hopes that Weyts will intervene after all.