The recent regulatory evaluation of pedagogical support services (PBDs) by an external committee provides a clear and consistent picture across the broad spectrum of Flemish education. Educational providers, including Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen, the Community Education Network (GO!), the Association of Cities and Municipalities for Education (OVSG), Provincial Education Flanders, and the Independent Educational Providers, take the thorough and well-substantiated reports in an explicit development-oriented perspective to heart. The findings confirm the indispensable role and societal added value of pedagogical guidance for our schools, centers, and academies and their teams. At the same time, they point to the necessary preconditions from the government.
The evaluation reports express broad recognition for the work of the PBDs. Schools confirm that pedagogical guidance is necessary and remains so to support them in achieving educational quality. The finding that schools confidently and with satisfaction call upon these services confirms that the PBDs form a crucial support point in an increasingly complex educational landscape.
The greatest strength of the pedagogical support services lies in their vision-driven, collective, and integrated work, based on a pedagogical project in a sustainable, school-close relationship. The PBDs succeed in weaving together the various regulatory tasks into integrated support focused on the practical work floor. The committee acknowledges the efforts made by the services in recent years to increase this focus on the work floor as a prerequisite for high-quality guidance of educational institutions and teachers.
The fact that the reports formulate work points and recommendations alongside strengths is inherent to a fully-fledged and dynamic quality assurance system. For example, the committee requests continued attention for the evolution towards 'Schools for everyone' and not to lose sight of the work on equal educational opportunities. Furthermore, it advocates for an even stronger focus on preventive work based on data collection and analysis. These elements offer us a sharp and valuable compass to further refine our services.
At the same time, the committee formulates a number of clear recommendations to the government to enable the proper functioning of the PBDs. It points out that the subsidy streams for organizations supporting schools are currently highly fragmented, increasingly less structural, and distributed among a large number of recipients serving similar goals. This fragmentation runs counter to the ambition to offer sustainable, integrated, and demand-driven support that flexibly responds to the broad needs of a school team. The committee therefore advocates for a coherent and stable funding framework for the PBDs.
The educational providers look with confidence towards the future of pedagogical guidance. We will continue to invest undiminishedly in network-based, high-quality, close, and effective guidance. Additionally, we will continue to focus on strong mutual cooperation between the various PBDs. Together with the Flemish government and all our educational professionals, we are building high educational quality in strong schools, centers, and academies for everyone, with pedagogical guidance as a crucial instrument.
The evaluation of the pedagogical support services and POC took place in the spring of 2026. This is the joint response from OVSG, Katholiek Onderwijs Vlaanderen, GO! Onderwijs, POV, and the independent educational providers to the global evaluation report.
