Who are we?
In total 25 persons participate in the study visit. The group will include: the State Secretary of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Development Cooperation, Road Safety, Regional and Community Informatics and Digital, Equal Opportunities and Animal Welfare. Member of the Board of theFlemish Community Commission (VGC), responsible for Well-Being, Health, Family and Equal Opportunities /policymakers / civil servants of the administration of the Flemish Community Commission, stakeholders of childcare, organizations and schools .
Why Kopenhagen, Denmark?
Denmark has been the leader in Europe for several years concerning early childhood education and care. They have the highest number of children in child care (75%), and the split between child care and nursery school has been left behind for decades. There are superb facilities in which the youngest and oldest children live together in mixed age groups (0 to 6 years old and even day care). These mixed age facilities can be inspiring the pilots within the Educare project, a project on transitions between childcare and kindergarten in the Brussels capital Region, which will be started up later this year.
The Danes have an exceptionally inspiring concept of ECEC. Contact with nature and children moving boundaries, are crucial. Besides, this concept attracts a lot of young people: early years teacher in ECEC is one of the most popular professions in Denmark and moreover, it appeals to men. The training to become ‘pedagogue’ is so popular because it teaches several art forms such as theatre, music and creative activities, next to the emphasis on outdoor activities.
Besides that a lot of attention is drawn to the way in which the facilities are arranged in the urban development. Safety and accessibility for bicycles to the children in day care, are of the utmost importance.
Also concerning family day care (child minding) we can learn a lot from them: child minders have since long been employed in the municipality and work closely together in ‘playroom groups’. These are meeting places which have a weekly moment (sometimes twice a week) specifically for child minders, also attended by a trainer.
Pedagogical guidance is strongly developed there. This explains -apart from the training at bachelor level- the high quality service.
Finally, the last couple of years high- level scientific research has been done at ArhusUniversity, in Kopenhagen in order to improve the quality of those facilities, especially those for children from foreign families.
Stakeholders of childcare, organizations and schools:
Name / FunctionShort biography
1.Latifa Bouhoute / Branch manager of Elmer Noord in Schaarbeek, a day care initiative for children from 3 months till 3,5 years, with a capacity of 30 places.
Latifaorganises daily life in Elmer Noord and guides, supports and directs the caregivers of her branch. With the pedagogical coach, she is responsible for the implementation of the vision and values in Elmer Noord. She is the keyperson for the parents from the very beginning until the end of the children's stay in Elmer. She regularly organises parent activities in order to create meeting opportunities for young parents and provide for social support. She facilitates activities with partners in the neighborhood.
She takes care of the social function of Elmer Noord, reaching parents who follow a training or language course, parents who work or unexpectedly found a job and parents in difficult social situations.
;
2.Frieda Fiers / Departement Head at day care initiatives and child health centre organized by the University of Brussels (VUB).
Her main responsibilities are file management, follow up of social policy, language policy and follow up on the infant welfare centre activities.
The VUB has 2 Day Care Centres in the Brussels Capital Region: one in the municipality of Elsene (south-east) and one in the municipality of Jette (north-west). The 2 centers have a total capacity of 154 infants. We give care of children of employees and students from the university and the university hospital, and also from parents from the Brussels region. As the number of requests exceeds the number of available places, the social-economical situation of the applicants are taken into account for the allocation of the available places.
The VUB is also responsible for the organization, arrangement and facilities of 1 Infant Welfare Centre, located at the VUB Day Care Centre in Jette. Parents from Jette and surrounding municipalities visit the centre on a regular base for a free preventative consult. The Infant Welfare Centre is staffed by a doctor, a nurse and a volunteer, who takes care of the welcoming and the weighing and size measurement of the baby.
Recently the VUB has been selected for a pilot project “Huis van het Kind” in Brussels, which aims to integrate different aspects of children care. We hope to be inspired by the practical examples and the related philosophies, and thus become a source of inspiration to the colleagues of the other Infant Welfare Centres.
3. Anne Lambrechts / Director at day care initiatives organised by vzw Elmer (nfpo*)
Anne Lambrechts is founder and director of the 4 socially oriented childcare centers of “Elmer” in different/ several disadvantaged regions of Brussels. The organisation's staff counts 70 people. Part of them are low qualified workers and long term unemployed and combine work and a qualifying training process to become child caregiver.
Elmer focuses on children whose parents follow a vocational training, a language course, or an integration course, or who unexpectedly found a job or need childcare for social or medical reasons. Elmer also reaches children of working middle class parents.
Elmer has a capacity of 135 places for children from 3 months up to 3,5 years.
Elmer organises a stimulating environment for the children and meeting opportunities for the parents.Elmer is center for inclusion for the Brussels Regio.
As is the figure of the well-known elephant character, Elmer is multi-coloured.
;
4.Frieda Luppens / Coordinator for the primary schools organized by Sint-Goedele Brussel ( nfpo). They are part of the subsidised free network (0-18 years), principally organised by groups affiliated to the Catholic church and one of the three main educational networks in Flanders.
Frieda Luppens is a bachelor in education elementary school since 1989. She has fifteen years of experience as a school principal in de Groene School in Anderlecht (Brussels). Since September 2015 she is coordinator. The organization counts 15 primary schools, 4 secondary schools, childcare, initiatives for out of school care and education for adults. Frieda Luppens coaches the principals of the primary schools and stimulates innovations. She is a co-creator for a new initiative “The tienerschool”, a school for children from 10 until 14 years old.
5. Anne Moisson / Coordinator for the 36 day care initiatives of GO! organised by the public body on behalf of the Flemish Community. GO! is one of the three main educational networks in Flanders (0-18 years). GO! includes nursery care for children from 3 months to 2,5 years, pre-school kindergarten for children from 2,5 up to 6. Lifelong learning is one of their most important principles.
Anne Moisson has been working for 25 years in the field of early childcare in various management functions. One of her primary focal points is the stimulation of the development of the Dutch language in young children from the earliest age, within the Brussels’ multilingual context. This policy is gaining importance every day. In her policy coordinating quality she strives to bridge both children’s day care and young children’s education, in order to give them the best chances to explore their specific talents within their education school time. The children originate from diverse situations (gender, religion, nationality,) and the organisation has a total capacity of 1000 children. She is involved with education and transition and organises a lot of activities with parents and children of the day care and school. She represents the organisation in numerous platforms.
6. Geert Meys / Director of out of school care (3-12 years) organised by vzw De Buiteling (nfpo)
Geert Meys is the director of De Buitelingvzw, and board member of a day care initiative De Ketjes (0-3 years) and BuurtsportBrussel (provides approachable sport activities for people from 7 up to 77)
De Buitelingvzw combines two goals as an association :
*organising activities for children from 2,5 to 12 years before and after school and during the holidays
*training people who want to work with children but who did not yet obtain the necessary qualifications
De Buiteling employs round and about 60 people, all from a diverse situation (nationality, age, religion, gender,…) and has a total capacity of 361 children.
They organise activities in 6 activity centers in the Brussels – Capital, in Vorst and in Sint-Joost ten Node.
They want children to learn how to handle freedom, and how to experience the diversity of a multicultural town like Brussels as a positive factor. Therefore, they provide both the liberty of choosing to play free, as well as the possibility to participate in our own activities or in those of one of their partner organizations.
–
7. Veerle Mertens / Coordinating Director of 6 day care initiatives – organised by the sister congregation AnnuntiatenHeverlee (the Christian congregation of the Holy Hart who is an important organiser of schools in Flanders). They are part of the subsidised free network, principally organised by groups affiliated to the Catholic church and one of the three main educational networks in Flanders.
VeerleMertens studied dietician and nutritionist and worked a few years in the food and retail sector. Since 1996 she is permanently and full-time active in the childcare sector as the Coordinating Directo. They nurse 250 children and employ 80 people. From their vision 'a big warm heart for each child' they consider certain values as very important: the children are at the center of the daily focus, their employees are the source of their strengths, as a team with a warm heart they are striving for a continuous quality by working systematically and methodically. Their credo: 'authority from the heart does wonders'.
Out of an additional commitment and a great belief in the necessity of the development of meeting places for parents and young children up to 4 years in Brussels, Veerle is a Board member of the non-profit association “OPVOEDEN” (educating) in Brussels since 2008. The past 8 years they opened 4 meeting places, named Baboes Centre, BaboesSchaarbeek, BaboesSint-Gilles, BaboesLaken. These meet & greet spots are very successful in Brussels.
8. Ingrid Roobaert / Coordinator of day care initiative Zandmannetjes in Schaarbeek (Brussels), a small initiative for 26 children (0 – 3).
I do this job already for 30 years with a lot of enthusiasm and interest. In our daycare center we daily create developmental opportunities for all children, irrespective of their age, gender, home language, religion,…. Therefore I support 8 employees to work on this vision. Concerning the transition from daycare to preschool, we find it important to collaborate with the teacher of the first year in preschool
9. LieselotWalravens / Coordinator of 5 day care initiatives – organized by Sint-Goedele Brussel ( nfpo) They are part of the subsidised free network, principally organised by groups affiliated to the Catholic church and one of the three main educational networks in Flanders.
“The foundation of every state/country is a combination of high quality care and education. These things go hand in hand.”
LieselotWalravens, bachelor in pedagogy for people with special needs. has been working since August 2013 for vzwSint-Goedele Brussels. Her main responsibilities are coordinating the five day care initiatives and develop new projects with the purpose to find a good balance between quality and quantity.
The 5 day care initiatives are located in different regions of Brussels. Sint-Goedele Brussel want to offer these 207 children a safe and trusted environment and support them in their development so that they learn in a pleasant and playful way lots of activities that stimulate their talents.
To be able to offer this quality, the 50 child care workers provide day in and day out for the daily care and educational support. This support is coordinated by a permanent manager per child care location.
To further optimize this pedagogical support, we have an overarching pedagogical coach who works in the communities to support the child care workers.
Policymakers:
Name / FunctionShort biography
10. Bianca Debaets / State Secretary of the Brussels-Capital Region, responsible for Development Cooperation, Road Safety, Regional and Community Informatics and Digital, Equal Opportunities and Animal Welfare
Member of the Board of theFlemish Community Commission (VGC), responsible for Well-Being, Health, Family and Equal Opportunities
Party membership: CD&V
-2009-2014: Member of the Brussels Parliament
-2014: Member of the Flemish Parliament
-2014-now: State Secretary of the Brussels-Capital Region
sels
11.Wouter Boeckmans / Advisor family policy to Secretary of State Bianca Debaets
- Born in Bonheiden (Belgium) on 22th of November 1983
- Living in Brussels since 2004
- Professional career since 2009: specialized in well-being, healthcare , family and education.
- master in contemporary history and master in online and printed journalism
- 0032 486 508 499
sels
12. Eric Laureys / Spokesman to State Secretary Bianca Debaets
-Born in Brussels (Belgium) on 13th of February 1986
-Professional career as a journalist with the Brussels regional television
-Master degree in law
-0032 489 933 325
sels
VGC.
The ‘VlaamseGemeenschapscommissie’ or Flemish Community Commission (VGC) is the hub of the Flemish community in the Brussels-Capital Region. It shapes the capital from the point of view of its Dutch-speaking inhabitants and regulates issues relating to culture, education, well-being and health. Being a local authority, it can create and fund institutions as well as take initiatives within the scope of its assigned tasks.
Name / FunctionShort biography
13. Antoinette Huysmans / Civil servant at the VGC, Family department.- Preparation and follow-up of policy decisions on projects and initiatives in childcare
The Family department is responsible for the preparation, implementation and follow-up on local policy on childcare & early childhood support.
Themes and projects:
-investment in capacity expansion
-investments in infrastructure
-professional formation programme for practitioners
-language support programme for practitioners
-support in development of childcare centres & early childhood support projects (‘consultatiebureausvoor het jonge kind’, ‘inloopteams’, ‘ontmoetingsplaatsen’, Huis van het Kind))
-projects on social inclusion, transition between childcare and kindergarten, neighbourhood & community
14. Caroline Vos / Civil servant at the VGC, Family department
Coach in interactive competences of child care workers in several day care initiatives in Brussels to encourage quality in ECEC.
Master in Social and Cultural Educational studies and master in Cultural Sciences.
Professional Career: education and support for adults (coaching) in social, cultural and pedagogical environments. Specialized in training and coaching of adults to develop a positive interaction with children. Special interest in language development and multilingualism in early childhood.
Living in Brussels since 1997, mother of two little boys who grow up in a trilingual family.
0032 486 270 111
15. Tom Cornelis / Civil servant at the VGC, department ‘OCB’
Kind enGezin
Kind enGezin is an agency of the Flemish government. Its task is to actively contribute to the welfare of young children and their families by providing services in the policy areas of preventive family support, child care and adoption.
With its preventive family support services, Kind enGezin wants to assist all parents from pregnancy until the child is three years of age. This support consists of providing practical tips in brochures and on the website, and most importantly by offering free home visits and consultation with nursing staff, physicians and parental support staff.
In its child care services, Kind enGezin acts as a general coordinator of child care in Flanders and in Brussels. This applies for both the accommodation of babies and toddlers and that of children in primary school education. Kind enGezin does not itself organise accommodation but advises, monitors and certifies the accommodation facilities.
Kind enGezin informs and guides anyone wishing to adopt a child throughout the whole adoption procedure. This is a specific task of the Flemish Central Authority for Adoption (VCA), a service within Kind enGezin.
Name / FunctionShort biography
16. Christele Van Nieuwenhuyzen / Christele Van Nieuwenhuyzen is working since 2003 in the childcare department of Kind enGezin as a policy advisor to the Flemish Minister of Welfare, Public Health and Family. She is a psychologist with a background in consumer research and data mining. She is involved in the design and follow-up of monitoring and evaluation processes of practices in childcare settings and in the elaboration and follow-up of research projects in order to follow closely all developments from the perspective of children, families and other stakeholders. She translates (research) findings into recommendations to support and advice policy makers in Flanders in making decisions regarding childcare. She is also a member of the OECD network on ECEC and was a participant of the working group under the auspices of the European Commission that developed the European Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care.
17. Martine Smets / Martine Smets is working since 1997 in Kind enGezin, first in the inspection department and since 2008 in the childcare department. She is head of a team of 11 stafmembers. Most of them are policy advisors, the others are supporters of the childcare sector on general level (not individual supporting).
Some of the hot topics of here department are: pedagogical framework and pedagogical supporters, future of the family-based childcare, inclusive childcare, flexible childcare, entrepeneurschip in childcare, user participation, qualifications and qualifying pathways, security and health, quality, infrastructure, diversity, social function of childcare, transitions, cooperation and networking
VBJK