School dropout never happens overnight. It often starts with a few absences, sometimes repeated in the same class, before gradually taking hold. The earlier these signs are detected, the greater the chances of keeping a pupil on the path of education. To address this challenge, the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, driven by Valérie Glatigny, is adapting the reforms adopted in 2024, taking into account feedback from those working on the ground in education and their requests for administrative simplification.
The new measures allow for better coordination between school leadership, teachers and PMS centres (psycho-medical-social centres). They also provide more effective tools to quickly identify at-risk situations and support pupils before difficulties turn into dropout. Pupil data will be accessible in real time, while repeated absences will be more easily detected to sound the alarm.
The Government is also simplifying the administrative daily work of education teams. Double entry of absences disappears thanks to a single tool, which will automatically feed the DAccE (the pupil support file that follows their entire schooling). A valuable time saving that will allow schools to devote more time to supporting pupils rather than administrative tasks.
The draft decree also improves the procedures related to permanent exclusions. Appeal deadlines are being shortened to reduce periods of uncertainty for families, and re-enrolment options are being extended to all education networks when the usual steps have not succeeded. The aim is to ensure that an exclusion never leads to a pupil's lasting exclusion from education.