European Schools: more options, starting with Brussels

The Commission has started a new path to create options for those with children in European Schools (ESS) and, given the structural overcrowding of the four in Brussels, it starts there. In its announcement, the Commission informs of a new agreement allowing children free schooling at the Accredited European School Brussels-Argenteuil in Waterloo, valid from school year 2025/26 onwards in the EN and FR sections. 

You can apply for a set of reserved places until the end of January 2025, or afterwards if places are still available. This announcement does address some of the issues we highlighted in our request of last year and some of the issues highlighted by the European Parliament in its report, therefore we consider it a very positive step. 

Accredited European Schools 

On the other hand, we’d like to know more about the accredited schools’ potential and about schools that might like to become accredited. Having more schooling options could open more possibilities in different neighbourhoods and provide solutions for a recurrent problem: children are given places in schools which are very distant to their residence.  

European School rigidity 

Additionally, it is high time to address the rigid structure of European Schools. It’s evident in many different areas, from budget to administration to governance:  

‘…There is very little flexibility around rigid rules – the message is: it is our way or the highway…’ (European Parliament, 2022, Report on the system of European Schools: state of play, challenges and perspectives p, 107) 

That rigidity is also evident in the ES framework of reproducing national systems: while that has proven its value in the past, particularly for diplomats coming to a place for a period and then going back to their home countries, it is long out of date. The European Schools allow children to follow the educational system of a country with which their family have ties, in a context very similar to the national one, while still allowing for learning foreign languages. While this might enrich the education of any temporary pupils, without creating problems for them if they ever go back to their national system, how many pupils are genuinely temporary and how many of them really ever go ‘back’? 

The ES model does not suit any longer for many colleagues. We have many nationality-mixed families, for whom the concept of one national education system does not fit.  

‘Another situation in which families find themselves is when they have decided to settle in a host country and would prefer that their child be educated like a native in the host country’s language rather than in their native language. However, the ESS does not allow for this, thereby undermining to some extent the idea of European citizenship that is expressed in the mission statement. In other words, there is a growing view that the ES’ system of placing pupils in national sections is too rigid, outdated, and unfit for truly multilingual and multicultural education.’ (European Parliament, 2022, Report, p, 84) 

Also, some families prefer to educate their children in a language which is native to no one in the household. So, this new initiative of the European Commission is a welcome first step: it might help some families by allowing inscriptions in EN and FR, the two most in-demand languages for Brussels, but it is not without limitations: the location of this particular school won’t suit those more in the north of Brussels.  

The future 

We would welcome therefore that the Commission extends the choice to more schools, either accredited European Schools or International Schools, in the same conditions offered in the new schema. Nevertheless, there are many changes needed to improve the ESS: we agree with the vast majority of the 18 pages of recommendations made by the European Parliament in 2022 (pp.124-142). 

Do you have a different opinion? As always, we love to hear from you! 

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