ITE in the continuum of Teacher Education in the French Community of Belgium:

Presentation of the "Enseignement de promotion sociale (EPS)" 

Adult learning in Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB)

[Wallonia-Brussels Federation]

Education – Under the authority of the Ministry of Education of the Wallonia – Brussels Federation

 CEFA: Centre d’Education et de Formation en Alternance [Work-linked Education and Training Centre]

Work-linked secondary education offers young people aged 15 and over the option of combining general training with work experience.

Higher education

6 universities

19 colleges

16 ESA (Enseignement Supérieur Artistique) [Tertiary Art Education]

 EPS: Enseignement de Promotion Sociale [Social Advancement Education]

Social advancement education in French-speaking Belgium enables adults to earn a certificate or degree, ranging from the Certificat d'Etudes de Base (CEB) [Basic Education Certificate] to the master’s degree.

http://www.enseignement.be/promotion-sociale

As mentioned above, Social Advancement Education in the FWB entitles graduates to study in higher education:

EAD: Enseignement à Distance (E-learning)

It provides interactive online modules to prepare for primary and secondary level certification (CEB, CE1D, CE2D, CESS…).

Training: Under the authority of the Ministries of Employment and Training in Brussels and Wallonia

In Brussels:

Bruxelles Formation [Brussels Training] is the public organization in charge of the vocational training of French-speaking job seekers and workers in the Brussels-Capital Region.

In cooperation with the EFP, the SFPME (Service de Formation des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises) [SME Training Service], organizes work-linked training programmes. There are two training paths:  apprenticeship training and company director training. Work-linked training combines theoretical and practical training in a study centre and practical training in a company. The SFPME organizes training programmes for more than 200 trades.

In partnership with the SFPME, the EFP (Institut Bruxellois de Formation en Alternance) [Brussels Work-Linked Training Institute] offers a wide range of training programmes, in apprenticeship (as of 15 years of age) and for company director (as of 18 years of age).

The AFT (Ateliers de Formation par le Travail) [Work through Training Workshops] provide training, under actual working conditions, on a worksite or a workshop, for interns who have problems with integration. They also provide individualized advice and support.

OISP (Socio-Occupational Integration Organizations)

The OISPs are training centres for unskilled job seekers who wish to obtain a qualification and find a job. The centres are geared preferentially to people who have no diploma or a lower secondary education school leaver’s certificate at most.

In Wallonia:

FOREM Formation: The FOREM (Employment and Training Public Service in Wallonia) provides training to all French speaking citizens in Wallonia to obtain a qualification in accordance with the requirements of the labour market. It offers more than 200 training programmes, and also guarantees access to the information on training organized by other operators. The FOREM is responsible for the Centres de Compétence [Skill Centres].  Walloon tools dedicated to innovation, these centres are places of expertise that provide training to the workers of tomorrow. Boasting cutting edge infrastructure and rooted in economic development hubs, these centres provide training and information and raise awareness among workers, job seekers, students, teachers, company directors and executives, and help to boost the competitiveness of businesses.

The IFAPME (Institut Wallon de la Formation en Alternance et des Indépendants et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises) [Walloon Institute of Work-linked Training, the Self-Employed and SMES] provides training in trades in many sectors. These training courses are organized on the principle of work-linked training (courses in the Centre and practical training in a company).

Training under apprenticeship (as of 15 years of age)

Coordination and supervision training (as of 18 years of age)

Company director training (as of 18 years of age)

Work-linked training for job seekers (with the FOREM and the Skill Centres)

Furthermore, for those who wish to improve their vocational skills continuously and to adapt apace with developments in their trade, the IFAPME also has a highly diversified offer of continuing training courses. Finally, the IFAPME also organizes customized training courses for people who want to create or take over a company. 

CISP (Les Centres d’insertion socioprofessionnelle) [Socio-Occupational Integration Centres]: they provide training to interns isolated from the work place. The CISP resort to specific pedagogics to enable interns to acquire general and technical skills, while taking advantage of psycho-social guidance and support.  They replace the Organismes d’insertion socioprofessionnelle (OISP) [Socio-Occupational Integration Organizations] and Entreprises de Formation par le Travail (EFT) [Work by Training Companies]. The training paths organized by the CISP cover the following areas in particular:  literacy, refresher courses, personal development, construction, hotel and catering, green trades, services to individuals, green jobs, secretariat and general business.

Trainer and teacher training:

FormaForm (Lifelong trainer training) provides advice and guidance for vocational training stakeholders and offers them continuous training in different areas of specialization.

IFC (Institut de Formation en Cours de Carrière) [In-career Training Institute] is the organization of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation that provides training to staff members of  basic and secondary, ordinary and specialized schools, and agents of CPMS organized or subsidized by the FWB; training that gives access to positions for promotion to inspectors; other training decided by the Government; initial training for managers; common curriculum for all the networks; in-career training for staff of the General Inspectorate Service, to the exclusion of persons with a position as inspector general or inspector general – coordinator; training in primary education and lower secondary education for teaching certification in upper secondary education and those with a university degree supplemented by certificate of educational aptitudes or a certificate of middle technical education courses.

FCC (Formation en Cours de Carrière) [In-career training] provides a range of training courses to staff of non-denominational ordinary secondary education, accompanied by the documents they need to carry out their mission properly. 

CAF (Centre d’Autoformation et de Formation Continuée) [Self-training and Continuing Training Centre] is geared to providing in-career training for full-time, social advancement and technical education staff of CPMS, for courses organized by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, excluding university education.  It organizes training courses on subjects that meet continuing training needs for staff working in schools.

Other structures:

The CDVC (Consortium de Validation des Compétences [Skills Accreditation Consortium, ca. 60 centres] organizes processes to verify proficiency in skills and vocational aptitudes so as to obtain a qualification recognized by the associated partners. This qualification has since 2005 given access to employment, and to social and economic well-being for all.

Lire et Ecrire [Read and Write] is an association composed of 8 regional branches in Wallonia, 6 sites in Brussels, and 3 coordination units (one for Wallonia, one for Brussels and one for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation).  Taken together, they form the Lire et Ecrire [Read and Write] movement. Do not hesitate to consult the different links below to find out more about this movement.  

Movement: Lire et Écrire [Read and Write].

In 2001, adult literacy became a priority for the French-speaking Belgian authorities, and in 2005, they set up a steering committee for adult literacy and an inter-ministerial conference on literacy policies.

Here is a summary of the different levels of education and training forms organized in the FWB:

Stakeholders in the FWB

Education

The Wallonia-Brussels Federation comprises in particular the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and the Ministry of Social Advancement for the French Community of Belgium.

ARES (Académie de Recherche et d’Enseignement Supérieur) [Research and Higher Education Academy], is the federation of institutes of higher education in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.

Its missions are to:

Guarantee the public service mission of higher education in the general interest

Support the institutions and see to the overall coordination of their education research and community service mission

Get them to cooperate with due respect for autonomy

The CSR of the EPS (Commissions Sous-Régionales de l’Enseignement de Promotion Sociale) [Sub-Regional Committees of Social Advancement Education]; a CSR has been created in each province and for the Brussels Region.

The mission of the sub-regional committees is to:

Ascertain that the education offer is in line with the relevant socio-economic situations;

Ensure the link with the structures that bring together the socio-economic stakeholders of the sub-region;

Submit opinions on these matters to the Higher Council referred to in Article 78, on its own initiative or at the request of that council.

Network of education and representation and coordination bodies:

FWB: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles [Wallonia-Brussels Federation]

CPEONS: Conseil des Pouvoirs Organisateurs de l’Enseignement Officiel Neutre Subventionné [Council of the Organizing Powers of Subsidized Secular Official Education]

FELSI: Fédération des Etablissements Libres Subventionnés Indépendants [Federation of Independent Subsidized Non-Denominational Institutions]

SEGEC: Secrétariat Général de l’Enseignement Catholique [General Secretariat of Catholic Education]

Training

Ministry of Employment and Training in Wallonia

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for the Brussels-Capital Region

Ministry of Vocational Training for the French Community Commission (Brussels)

The Interfédé is born of the shared determination of Five Federations (see below) which pursue the objective of making training and employment accessible to all. Together they represent 152 Centres d’insertion socioprofessionnelle (CISP) [Socio-Occupational Integration Centres] in Wallonia, Entreprises de Formation par le Travail (EFT) [Training Through Work Companies] or Organismes d’Insertion Socioprofessionnelle (OISP) [Socio-Occupational Integration Organizations].

ACFI      Actions Coordonnée de Formation et d’Insertion Socioprofessionnelle  [Coordinated Training and Socio-Occupational Integration Actions] (www.acfi.be)

AID        Action Intégrée de Développement  [Integrated Development Action] (www.aid-com.be)

ALEAP   Association Libre d’Entreprises d’Apprentissage professionnel [Free Association of Vocational Training] (www.aleap.be)

CAIPS    Concertation des Ateliers d’Insertion Professionnelle et Sociale [Concerted Action of Occupational and Social Integration Workshops] (www.caips.be)

Lire et Ecrire Wallonie [Read and Write Wallonia] (www.lire-et-ecrire.be).

The missions of the Interfédé are to:

Promote the entire sector of socio-occupational integration centres (CISP);

Support the professionalization of the CISP by advocating consistency and quality in training, assessing, organizational and administrative practices;

Represent the CISP before the institutional political authorities as well as before the adult education authorities by raising a concerted voice in the sector;

Relay the preoccupations of the sector in social consultation bodies;

Coordinate and organize continuing training for workers in the sector;

Promote the emergence of new initiatives and practices in the field

The purpose of the CEFOs (Carrefour Emploi Formation Orientation) [Crossroads for Employment, Training and Orientation] is to help everyone find an appropriate answer to the questions he raises concerning training and employment.

The FOREM is the public employment and vocational training service in Wallonia.

IFAPME: IFAPME (Institut Wallon de la Formation en Alternance et des Indépendants et des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises) [Walloon Institute of Work-linked Training, the Self-Employed and SMES]

ACTIRIS is the public employment service in Brussels.  It is the main stakeholder and solution provider for employment in the Brussels-Capital Region. Actiris concentrates its actions and resources on two missions, namely to: match employers and jobseekers and to organize the transition to employment. Actiris has also been mandated for the coordination of the Observatoire bruxellois de l’Emploi [Brussels Employment Observatory].

Bruxelles Formation [Brussels Training] is the public organization in charge of the vocational training of French-speaking job seekers and workers in the Brussels-Capital Region.

SFPME (Service Formation PME) [SME Training Service]

Education and Training

The CEF (Conseil de l’Education et de la Formation) [Education and Training Council] is an advisory body that tries to have a prospective but also pragmatic vision, given the experience and expertise of its members and the task officers, the frequent calls on professionals in the field, and the search results.

The Education and Training Council is currently the only institutional place where all education and training levels are brought round the table with all their partners. The works and discussions of the CEF contribute to a coherent search and to an effort to avoid breaches between regional and community policies, and between lifelong education and training pathways for French-speaking citizens.

In this sense the CEF makes a significant contribution to the establishment links between the French Community, the Walloon Region and the Brussels Region (COCOF - Commission communautaire française) [French Community Commission]. Its opinions enlighten the governmental authorities concerned and are often taken into consideration in education policies.

The IBEFE (Instances Bassin Enseignement Formation Emploi) [Education, Training, and Employment Catchment Area Authorities] have a local role to play as interface and consultation on the one hand, and support for the management of qualifying education and vocational training on the other. There are 10 such entries, 9 in Wallonia and 1 in Brussels.

The mission of OFFA (Office Francophone de la Formation en Alternance) is to coordinate work-linked training operations in French-speaking Belgium and to manage the French-speaking work-linked training sector. It also carries out an advisory mission on work-linked training matters among the 3 governmental authorities concerned (Wallonia-Brussels Federation, Walloon Region and the COCOF).

The Cités des Métiers [Houses of Trades] (Brussels, Charleroi, Liège, Namur) are facilities that provide advice and resources to people in search of points of reference, orientation and information on jobs and working life. Their mission is to direct users to all the means and resources for setting and achieving occupational objectives and to accompany them in their choices.

The unique multi-partner lifelong learning device (quadripartite agreement) is based on the network of 3 Cités des Métiers (Liège, Charleroi and Namur) interconnected with the Brussels Cité de Metiers and built around the Carrefours Emploi Formation Orientation (CEFO) [Crossroads for Employment, Training and Orientation] and CPMS.

The declared will of the Governments is to pool the respective expertise of the different operators active in lifelong orientation. It addresses the need to provide a better vocational orientation to all the groups concerned, from the beginning of compulsory schooling to the end of working life, via the different phases of the school curricula, including higher education and training, and career developments, redeployments and reorientations.

En  FWB (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles):

- Sous l'autorité des Ministères de l'Emploi et de la formation à Bruxelles et en Wallonie:

• EFT (Entreprises de Formation par le Travail) 
• OISP (Les organismes d'insertion socio-professionnelle)
• CEFOS (Carrefours emplois-formations-orientation)

Bruxelles:

• Actiris (Office Régional Bruxellois de l'Emploi)
• Bruxelles-Formation
• SFPME (Le service Formation PME)

Wallonie:

• FOREM (Le service public wallon de l'emploi et de la formation)
• IFAPME: (Institut wallon de Formation en Alternance et des indépendants et Petites et Moyennes Entreprises)

- Sous l'autorité du Ministère de l'Education de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles:

• Enseignement Supérieur (6 Universités, 20 Hautes Ecoles, 16 ESA)
• Enseignement de Promotion Sociale
• EAD (Enseignement à distance)

• CDVC (Consortium de Validation des competences): +/- 60 centres