Can Valérie Glatigny revive dialogue with French-speaking Belgium’s teachers?
Valérie Glatigny invited education representatives to resume talks on 1 September as schools reopened across the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, but unions kept their protest notice in force amid anger over staffing, workloads and spending cuts.
The dispute can affect teacher employment, classroom organisation and continuity for pupils and families across French-speaking Belgium. It is also a test of whether Belgium’s established model of social consultation can still shape reforms once their underlying savings have entered the budget framework.
Education Minister offered to restart formal dialogue with teachers, unions and school authorities on Monday, 24 August, as pupils returned to classrooms across . Speaking to RTBF’s La Première, the MR minister said an invitation unanswered before the summer had been renewed for 1 September and proposed a new advisory committee. The immediate outcome, however, was an offer of talks rather than an agreement: unions maintained a notice covering workplace actions until 27 September.
For families and education workers in and French-speaking , the dispute is already practical rather than abstract. Some upper-secondary teachers began the year without certainty over their final assignments after the government increased a full teaching load from 20 to 22 classroom periods. Glatigny said reassignments could continue until the end of October and that initial feedback appeared reassuring, according to the account carried by BX1 and Belga. She also promised figures later, meaning the number of precariously employed teachers who may ultimately lose work was still unknown at the start of term.
The confrontation reflects Belgium’s federal structure. Compulsory education in this case is managed by the , formally the French Community, rather than by the federal government or the European Union. Its decisions cover French-language schools in and , while Dutch-language education follows separate Flemish rules. Brussels-based EU staff and other international residents therefore encounter different school systems depending on the language network they choose; themselves do not set teachers’ workloads or the Federation’s budget.
Glatigny’s position is that opposition is inevitable but savings are equally unavoidable. The Federation government says its debt could rise from €12.78 billion in 2024 to €21 billion in 2029 without corrective action. Its official 2026–2029 budget plan targets close to €500 million in structural savings by 2029 and includes the increase to 22 periods for upper-secondary teachers. The MR–Les Engagés coalition argues that stabilising the finances is necessary to preserve education over the longer term.
Teacher organisations frame the same moment very differently. Roland Lahaye of CSC-Enseignement told L’Avenir before the rentrée that the joint-union notice would run from 17 August to 27 September. Luc Toussaint of CGSP-Enseignement described the earlier consultation as a semblance of social dialogue and warned that further action would follow without a genuine reopening of negotiations. SETCa-SEL went further in its own statement, calling previous meetings a communications exercise and demanding a substantial policy change rather than another forum for discussion.
Those positions explain why Glatigny’s promise may be tested less by the existence of a meeting than by what can still change inside it. The unions object not only to two additional classroom periods but to a wider package affecting employment, sick-leave arrangements, end-of-career provisions and support for school meals and supplies. In June, Muriel Vigneron of SLFP-Enseignement said the measures affected working conditions and the universal character of schooling, while union leaders insisted that a truce required reversals on important decisions.
The broader issue is whether social consultation can influence policy after the central budget choices have already been enacted. Belgium’s consensus-based political culture gives unions and organised education networks an important voice, but the fragmented governance of schooling also makes accountability difficult: ministers control community policy, the federal level affects some employment costs and pensions, and schools must translate decisions into timetables and posts.
Attention now turns to the proposed 1 September meeting, the progress of teacher reassignments and any actions organised before the Federation’s holiday on 27 September. The decisive unknown is whether Glatigny is prepared to adjust measures with budgetary consequences or chiefly wants to improve their implementation and explanation. Until that is clear—and until the promised staffing figures arrive—the call to relaunch dialogue will remain an opening, not a settlement.
Impact
Regional — The measures apply to French-language education in Wallonia and Brussels, not to the Flemish Community’s school system. Brussels families may therefore face different rules depending on the language network attended.
What it means for you
Families using French-language schools in Wallonia or Brussels should watch communications from their school and transport or childcare arrangements through 27 September, while the joint-union action notice remains active. Upper-secondary teachers face an increase from 20 to 22 classroom periods, which may affect timetables and workload. Staffing may also remain unsettled because teacher reassignments can continue until the end of October. These measures do not govern Dutch-language schools run by the Flemish Community, so Brussels households should check which community and education network their child’s school belongs to.
Opposing perspectives
- Glatigny and the MR–Les Engagés government
The government presents the reforms as unavoidable measures to prevent the Federation’s debt and interest burden from crowding out education spending. Glatigny says protest is understandable but argues that fiscal repair and renewed consultation can proceed together.
- CSC, CGSP, SETCa-SEL and SLFP teacher unions
The unions say dialogue has repeatedly come after the central decisions and therefore cannot be meaningful without scope to reverse important measures. They connect the savings package to heavier workloads, insecure employment and reduced universal support for pupils.
- School directors and organising authorities
Representatives of school management have sought workable rules and earlier consultation because they must assign staff and explain pupils’ pathways locally. Their immediate concern is implementation uncertainty, even where they do not share every union demand.
Who, where and what
Key people, places and terms in this story
Region where the Federation’s French-language education measures apply.
Region where the measures apply to French-language schools but not schools governed by the Flemish Community.
MR politician and Wallonia-Brussels Federation minister responsible for compulsory education who invited education representatives to resume talks.
The French-language education area affected by the dispute.
Authority responsible for Dutch-language education, which is outside the scope of these measures.
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MR politician and Wallonia-Brussels Federation minister responsible for compulsory education who invited education representatives to resume talks.
Region where the Federation’s French-language education measures apply.
Region where the measures apply to French-language schools but not schools governed by the Flemish Community.
The French-language education area affected by the dispute.
Union mobilisation notice remaining in force until 27 September.
Federation budget programme linked to nearly €500 million in targeted structural savings by 2029.
Authority responsible for Dutch-language education, which is outside the scope of these measures.
Political party to which Valérie Glatigny belongs.
Belgian community authority responsible for French-language education in Wallonia and Brussels and for the contested reforms.
Federal authority that is institutionally distinct from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation.
Brussels-based institutions that are separate from the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and have no stated role in the education dispute.
Sources & evidence
- View sourceBX1Primaryprimary· bx1.be· 24 August 2026Retrieved 27 August 2026· 39 days ago· Dated
- View sourceLa Libre Belgiquecorroborating· lalibre.be· 24 August 2026Retrieved 27 August 2026· 39 days ago· Dated
- View sourceGovernment of the Wallonia-Brussels Federationofficial· gouvernement.cfwb.be· 12 October 2025Retrieved 27 August 2026· 355 days ago· Dated
- View sourceL’Avenircorroborating· lavenir.net· 10 August 2026Retrieved 27 August 2026· 53 days ago· Dated
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