The budgetary situation of the FW-B requires responsible measures to safeguard the right to quality education in the long term. Postponing decisions would condemn future generations to far heavier cuts.
The move from 20 to 22 hours for teachers in the upper secondary level and the reform of the free-provision mechanisms fit this spirit, as does the introduction of the CDIE and the reduction of teaching load for teachers at the start and end of their careers.
1. Recap of the budgetary context
The Wallonia-Brussels Federation is going through a difficult financial situation. Today, one in five teachers' salaries is paid on credit. Each year, nearly €350 million goes solely towards repaying debt interest: money that can no longer be invested in schools. If nothing were done, this burden would reach €650 million by 2029. To put this in perspective, that is equivalent to hiring 12,000 teachers!
Given this situation, the status quo is no longer possible. We can no longer “sweep the dust under the carpet”.
The Government therefore chose to act to preserve the Federation's essential missions, guarantee its viability while maintaining the quality of its work.
Independent experts confirmed this in their report: spending is rising faster than revenue, structural reforms are essential, and postponing decisions means condemning future generations to far heavier cuts.
This conclave was therefore not an austerity exercise, but one of responsibility towards future generations. No one makes cuts for pleasure.
2. Teaching load in the upper secondary level: aligning with the lower secondary level
The unions denounce a “10% increase in working time” from the move from 20 to 22 periods. This is inaccurate.
The measure does not change total working time but rebalances the share devoted to teaching. In practice, teaching load rises from 16.6 to 18.3 hours per week (50-minute periods in front of the class).
This is a measured adjustment that brings the Federation in line with the international average. According to OECD and TALIS data, the average in upper secondary is 23.3 periods per week, compared with 20 in the FW-B (now 22).
Furthermore, the teaching load is 22 periods in lower secondary (1st-2nd-3rd secondary year), 24 periods in primary school and 26 periods in pre-school.
And above all: no other increase in teaching load is planned, at any education level.
Moreover, the figure cited in some media (1,500 FTEs) is wrong: the reform should not lead to any redundancies, as it takes place amid a severe teacher shortage, particularly in the upper secondary level.
Each year, 2,170 FTE posts open up at this level due to natural departures (DPPR, retirement) and the teacher shortage. We will therefore need teachers. It is also, as every year, normal for there to be movements or reassignments between levels and/or schools.
Finally, there will be few or no graduates in 2026 due to the extension of initial teacher training from 3 to 4 years. We will therefore need teachers.
- Two fewer periods in front of the class during the first year of teaching, to ease entry into the profession;
- Two fewer periods from age 60, to encourage the transfer of experience.
At the same time, the permanent “Teacher” contract (CDIE), from 2027, will guarantee job stability and a full 100% teaching load from the start of a career, since we know that one in three teachers leave the profession within the first five years, often due to instability and unpredictable schedules.
3. No abolition of free provision
Since 2019-2020, a specific allocation or grant has been provided, in addition to operating allocations and grants, to fund free school supplies for pupils from the first year of kindergarten to the third year of primary school. This scheme is now being abolished as it is administratively burdensome.
However, from the start of the 2026 school year, free school supplies will be extended up to the 6th year of primary school in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The project aims to extend the scheme to all pupils in mainstream and special-needs primary education.
To enable schools to fulfil their obligations regarding free school supplies, an additional €11 million (coming from the end of the specific free-provision scheme up to the 3rd year) will be injected into the operating funds of primary schools, which, as a reminder, were already increased last year and will rise gradually until 2034, currently standing at over €330 million.
By transferring part of the specific funding dedicated to the free school-supplies scheme, we strengthen schools' capacity to fulfil the missions set out by the School Pact, generally, for all pupils in primary education.
Moreover, access to operating allocations and grants will now be conditional on organising authorities providing school supplies free of charge to pupils.
These new provisions form part of ongoing efforts to simplify administration for school management teams on the ground and to ensure the sustainability of public finances, while preserving the essential missions of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
To this end, schools will have full autonomy to determine how to provide the school supplies needed by all their pupils. There is therefore no question of selecting pupils based on income or stigmatising anyone.
4. Free meals
We are maintaining this policy. Indeed, the budget will be partly reinjected into standard funding for schools.
To this end, part of the budget dedicated to subsidising full, free, healthy and sustainable meals will be reinjected as operating funds for differentiated support in mainstream primary education and as an additional operating allocation or grant for special-needs primary education.
The new scheme will put an end to the current call for projects, the administrative complexity of which was already all too clear, both for the Administration and for management teams on the ground.
It will therefore be up to schools benefiting from these schemes to decide on the best use of these resources, including the possible funding of free or lower-cost meals.
School sites selected for the 2025-2026 school year under the last call for projects will of course keep their current grants.