Belgium’s Education Crisis Deepens as Teachers Council Meets

On June 6, 2026, Belgium’s newly formed Council of Teachers (Raad van Onderwijzers) convened for the first time in the Flemish Parliament — but before the inaugural meeting even began, the initiative faced blistering criticism from the very educators it was designed to serve. The event, intended to give 124 teachers selected by lottery a voice in reducing administrative burden, instead became a flashpoint in a much larger education crisis unfolding on both sides of Belgium’s linguistic divide.

A Council Under Fire From the Start

The Council of Teachers, a brainchild of Flemish Education Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA), brought together 124 teachers from primary and secondary education, chosen from over 2,300 candidates. Its mandate was to advise on a new decree aimed at scrapping concrete rules to reduce administrative workload, or “planlast.” Minister Demir has argued that teachers need more time for teaching and less for paperwork.

But the response was immediate and damning. “I don’t think the Education Minister knows what education really is,” Dutch teacher Katrijn Dehantschutter told VTM NIEUWS, as reported by HLN. “I don’t expect much from it. I don’t think anything big will be achieved here.” Her criticism centered on the belief that focusing on administrative burden misses the real crisis: the acute teacher shortage.

Teacher Sofie Lens, with three decades of experience, told the same outlet she is considering leaving the profession entirely. “From the school boards and the ministry, there’s increasing pressure,” she said. “Then you start to wonder: is this still the calling we once started with?”

Parallel Crises on Both Sides of the Language Border

The discontent in Flanders is only half the story. Simultaneously, in the French-speaking Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB), Education Minister Valerie Glatigny (MR) is pushing through sweeping austerity measures that have triggered a 10-day strike, the cancellation of final exams in Liege province, and widespread protests.

According to RTBF, the FWB parliament approved a program decree after 14 hours of debate containing measures designed to save 500 million EUR by 2029 and reduce the annual deficit from 1.6 billion to 1.2 billion EUR. The most controversial measure requires secondary upper-level teachers to teach 22 periods per week instead of 20 — a 10% increase in classroom time without salary compensation.

Other changes include abolishing gradual salary reductions for long-term illness (saving 120 million EUR), limiting unauthorized single-day absences to three per year, cutting budgets for free meals and school supplies, and raising university tuition fees from 835 to 1,194 EUR.

Growing Backlash Against Top-Down Governance

The most consistent criticism across both communities is the perceived lack of consultation. More than 1,300 Flemish school directors signed an open letter to Minister Demir on May 29, complaining about the speed of reforms, late communication, and lack of autonomy, as VRT NWS reported.

“It was a fairly spontaneous initiative,” coordinating director Guy Voets told VRT. “There were several fellow directors who said: what’s happening here is a lot in a short time, it’s going too fast. We can’t continue like this.”

Minister Demir acknowledged the frustration. “I understand their frustration and I understand that everything is going fast,” she responded. “On the other hand, we are dealing with the urgency that education quality has been in free fall for the past 20 years.”

In the French-speaking community, the backlash has been even more intense. VRT NWS reported that final exams have been cancelled in Liege province secondary schools as teachers strike. Brussels teachers placed a suitcase at Minister Glatigny’s door with the message: “Valerie, take a vacation and never come back!”

A Cocktail of Crises

Prof. Dirk Jacobs, a sociologist at ULB, described the situation as a dangerous combination of factors. “The teacher shortage, the pension reform, and the top-down decisions are a cocktail that leads to anger,” he told VRT NWS. “The pendulum has swung too far toward dirigisme.”

Belgium loses approximately 2,170 full-time teachers annually in the French-speaking community alone, and one in three young teachers leaves the profession within five years. Education consumes 8 billion EUR of the FWB’s 15 billion EUR total budget, and 17 billion EUR of Flanders’ 64.6 billion EUR budget. The FWB currently pays one in five teachers with borrowed money.

What’s Next

Despite operating independently, both Belgian education communities are experiencing remarkably similar dynamics: budget pressure driving reform, a worsening teacher shortage, top-down decision-making provoking backlash, and growing union mobilization. The irony of the Council of Teachers — created to give teachers a voice, yet immediately dismissed by them as missing the point — encapsulates the depth of the crisis.

With the FWB program decree still facing procedural hurdles and Flemish school directors demanding more time, the coming weeks will test whether Belgium’s education ministers can bridge the widening gap between their reform ambitions and the realities faced by teachers and students in the classroom.