2023-05-26 15:19:00
According to the MR, behind the proposal, the measure will have a positive impact on reducing educational inequalities.
“Many studies show it: the plasticity of the brain is much greater in the first years of life. France has also taken the same decision. By lowering the age of compulsory education, we increase the chances of success for pupils from the weakest socio-economic backgrounds”, explains the president of MR Georges-Louis Bouchez.
In Belgium, the rate of schooling from the age of 3 is high. In the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, it is around 93% but according to Bouchez, in the least favored sections of the population, the proportion of children who do not yet attend school at the age of three is 50%. “We are even talking regarding 37% of children in Brussels”, he specifies.
And who says school obligation, says control of the obligation. “The rules related to compulsory schooling from the age of three should be the same as those in force for compulsory schooling at age 5, with a little more flexibility”, he indicates.
However, there is no consensus on the impact that such a measure would have on reducing educational inequalities.
“There are already a lot of three-year-olds from working-class backgrounds who go to school and that doesn’t prevent inequalities from showing up later. Compulsory schooling at three years is not a panacea. It all depends on how the school treats these children,” says Bernard Delvaux, head of research at the interfaculty research group on education and training systems at UCLouvain.
The League of Families, for its part, insists on the need to be flexible in the event of non-compliance with the rules. “The application of financial penalties and the threat of imprisonment in the event of repeated imprisonment seem counterproductive in many cases. The League of Families favors prevention, support for parents in the event of absenteeism observed, and work on the causes of school non-attendance”says the organization.
Compulsory school from the age of three? “Don’t scare children”
The League of Families also believes that other measures would have a more significant impact on inequalities.
“School attendance in kindergarten is a factor in the fight once morest educational inequalities, but it is far from being the only one. With regard to statistics concerning schooling or class attendance, the proportion of pupils in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation are behind in school, experience repeating a year or relegation to specialized or qualifying courses are on a completely different scale. The work must continue and intensify in parallel, so that together, school stakeholders and public authorities manage to fight school relegation and put a stop to the factory of inequalities… in short, transform the school.”
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