As part of a new measure announced by Flemish Minister of Education Ben Weyts, so-called "intellectually gifted pupils" — children who exceed the general education programming for their age — will be able to move up a class into a higher year group quicker than before.
According to the new rules, primary and secondary education students will no longer have to wait until the end of June to be evaluated, as is the case now. "We want to avoid our gifted children and young people getting tired of school," said Weyts. "They deserve a tailor-made approach. Therefore, this term we are working on a comprehensive policy geared to their needs."
Instead, the class council can allow these pupils, which Weyts said was a small but very vulnerable group, to transfer in the course of the school year and pupils will also be able to jump several years rather than one at a time.
Risk of dropping out
"Gifted" pupils are often ready to move up to the next academic grade faster than their peers, but until now, class councils could only make slight adjustments to the study route they follow – for instance by giving exemptions for certain lessons and offering alternatives in the exempted time.
This meant the students' study path could not be sped up, except at the end of the school year in June, when they could give the green light to move to a higher year.
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This left them pushing through in a year group that they had actually outgrown. Under these circumstances, some pupils have a tendency to become demotivated or even drop out altogether.
As of this new school year (2022-2023, starting on Thursday 1 September), this will already be possible during the school year and pupils will also be able to jump multiple years.
"Without a customised approach, the schooling of gifted pupils can be miserable," said Weyts. "These pupils can then become very unhappy and even underperform. We want to take much more account of their rhythm and their needs."
