Belgian Schools Face Scheduling Chaos Under New Reforms

Belgian secondary schools in the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (FWB) are grappling with an unprecedented scheduling crisis ahead of the 2026-2027 academic year. A confluence of government-imposed reforms — including a mandatory increase in teaching hours, the rollout of a new common core curriculum, and the elimination of remedial first-year classes — has created a logistical nightmare for school administrators, sparked massive teacher protests, and raised urgent questions about the future of education in French-speaking Belgium.

What’s Behind the Chaos?

The reforms stem from an austerity drive by the MR-Les Engagés coalition government, which has targeted education — the largest budget item in the FWB — for significant savings. The most contentious measure requires upper secondary teachers (4th, 5th, and 6th years) to increase their classroom teaching load from 20 to 22 hours per week, without salary compensation. Education Minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) has acknowledged that the measure is “above all a budgetary measure and a measure to combat shortages,” adding that “it’s a measure that pleases no one, not even me.”

Simultaneously, the government is introducing the “tronc commun” (common core curriculum) in 1st year secondary starting September 2026, eliminating the differentiated first year that previously accommodated students who failed their primary school leaving exam. The FWB parliament approved the new first-year organization in May, with an entry into force planned for the coming school year.

The Scheduling Puzzle

For school directors, the math simply doesn’t add up. Many subjects in general education are organized in four-hour blocks. Under the old system, teachers in upper secondary typically taught five four-hour blocks — exactly 20 hours. Now, schools must squeeze 22 hours into the same structure.

Dahlia Wolf, director of Athénée Thil Lorrain in Verviers, explained the practical consequences: “We have quite a few subjects, at least in general education, that are organized in four-hour blocks. In upper secondary, we tended to give our colleagues five four-hour blocks. Five times four made 20 hours. And now we need to reach 22 hours. That means that some classes, for example in French, will have two French teachers.”

Splitting subjects between multiple teachers raises concerns about continuity and quality of instruction. Students may find themselves adapting to different teaching styles for the same subject — a disruption that educators worry could affect learning outcomes.

Human Cost of the Reforms

Beyond the logistical challenges, the reforms carry a heavy human toll. Under the seniority-based system for assigning hours, less experienced and temporary teachers are the most vulnerable. Julien Bauduin, director of Athénée provincial mixte Warocqué in Morlanwelz, described the painful conversations ahead: “From the moment you increase everyone by 10%, inevitably, those at the bottom of the list or the least senior will lose their job or, at least, part of their job. We always work by seniority: we load the most senior first, then go down the list. And the last ones, when there are no more hours, we have to see them, explain the situation, the drama they’re going to live through.”

Sylvain, a history-geography teacher in Brussels who spoke on condition of anonymity, faces exactly this scenario. “All these people who teach the same courses as me will all have to work two more hours ‘face to class.’ There are at least 10 of them. And so, all my hours will be redistributed among all these people. And so, I no longer have any hours.”

Minister Glatigny has pushed back against claims of job losses, arguing that in a context of chronic teacher shortages — approximately 2,170 full-time equivalent teachers leave the system each year — the measure will mainly reduce the need to hire new temporary staff. “It’s mainly new temporary teachers that we won’t hire,” she said. “That’s where the savings come from.”

Administrators as ‘MacGyvers of Education’

School directors are bearing the brunt of the implementation burden. Many are working through summer holidays to finalize schedules before the first students arrive on August 24. Some planning staff have even volunteered to work unpaid during their break.

Bauduin captured the changing nature of school leadership with striking candor: “It was a job where I went to meet teachers, staff, students and parents. We took the temperature, we were very available. Today, we lock ourselves more and more in our offices because there are enormous changes. These are reforms, okay, but above all we need to find solutions. We have become the MacGyvers of education, trying to put patches everywhere so that the school continues to function.”

Broader Implications

The crisis extends beyond scheduling. The reforms come against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between the government and the education sector. Massive teacher demonstrations have rocked the FWB parliament, including a protest on June 4-5 when the décret-programme was voted on. Tensions escalated further on June 16 when Les Engagés party president Yvan Verougstraete was hit with a pie by a teacher in Florenville — a sign of the raw emotions surrounding the issue.

Critics, including PTB parliamentary group leader Amandine Pavet, have warned of up to 1,300 potential job losses. Meanwhile, the extension of teacher training programs from three to four years means no new graduates will enter the job market in June 2026, compounding the staffing pressures.

What to Watch For

As the August 24 deadline for finalized schedules approaches, several questions remain unanswered. Will the government’s promise of no net job losses hold, given the arithmetic of redistributing hours? How will schools cope with implementing multiple major reforms simultaneously? And crucially, will these measures alleviate the teacher shortage — or drive more educators out of the profession?

For now, school directors across the FWB are doing what they can with the tools they have, patching together schedules and hoping the system holds. As Bauduin put it: “We have become the MacGyvers of education.” Whether that ingenuity will be enough remains the defining question for Belgium’s French-speaking schools heading into the 2026 academic year.