As from September 2024, the “Rahmenplan Berufliche Orientierung” (framework plan for vocational orientation), is in force in all schools in the German-speaking Community (BE-DE), giving learners the opportunity to get to know the working world at an early stage.

In recent years, surveys in BE-DE have highlighted a lack of support and information for learners when it comes to vocational orientation, even more so as it was provided heterogeneously. The Minister of Work and the Minister of Education thus cooperated and developed a new framework plan to make vocational guidance compulsory in the educational pathway. The public employment and training service ADG (Arbeitsamt der Deutschsprachigen Gemeinschaft) assumes the coordinating role for all schools, including primary schools.

A collaborative and innovative approach
In spring 2021, a think tank bringing together representatives from all relevant institutions, such as the ADG, school networks, Jugendinfo, social partners, and the involved departments of the ministries were tasked with monitoring the implementation of 5 key areas:
• accompanied self-reflection,
• career and company exploration,
• observation and internship,
• student portfolio,
• development of an in-school concept to promote student skills in the area of career orientation.
This collaborative and innovative approach resulted in September 2023 in the adoption by the Parliament of the German-speaking Community of a framework which sets activities organised by the school for all levels. The implementation of the framework began with the 2023-24 school year and is being fully enforced during the 2024-25 school year.

From career exploration to internships
The new official pathway starts in primary school and accompanies the learners until the end of secondary school with insights such as:
• career exploration – in the fifth and sixth year of primary school (11-12 years old), learners discover during one day in class the activities linked to a profession or a professional field.
• observation – in the second year of secondary school (13-14 years old), individual learners immerse themselves in a one-day in-company experience: they take part in everyday working life, they observe and carry out age-appropriate activities.
• company exploration – in the third year of secondary education (14-15 years old), the learners, as a class group, can spend one whole day learning about operational and work processes visiting different company departments.
• internship – in the fourth year of secondary school (15-16 years old), an internship of at least three days is included in the programme: learners observe, receive explanation and carry out small tasks independently and with supervision. The objective is to give them a realistic insight into the working life.
Learners are also required to document the development of their vocational orientation in a digital portfolio, and make their talents, interests and professional experiences visible and comprehensible for self-reflection. The use of Europass is encouraged.

Berufsroute platform
Contacts between the world of work and the schools are facilitated by a central platform, Berufsroute.be, run by ADG for the learners and their parents, the teachers and entrepreneurs. It provides a wide range of instruments for didactic and pedagogical preparation and follow-up as well as for the development and follow-up of content on career-oriented topics.
The first results show that in 2023, the vocational guidance staff at the ADG participated in 156 events (workshops, information sessions, etc.) in schools, reaching nearly 3,200 students, which is significantly more than in the past.

Read this publication on Cedefop’s website

ReferNet Belgium, & Cedefop (2025, January 8). Belgium: Embedded vocational orientation in school curricula. National news on VET.