Good news from Flanders: new learning outcomes are LGBTI-inclusive

The Flemish government has approved the new learning outcomes for the second and third stages of secondary education (students age 15-18). Flanders will be one of the few regions in the world where schools are now required to teach about gender and sexual identity.

The learning outcomes of the first stage were already approved and LGBT+-inclusive. Flanders is following in the footsteps of the few regions that already have LGBTI inclusivity in their curricula, such as Scotland, England, and the Netherlands.

In the previous learning outcomes of the first stage, sexual orientation was already included in cross-curricular targets as an effort commitment, but it was not mandatory. As a result, the realisation was not checked and it depended on the goodwill of the school and individual teachers. According to Çavaria (the Flemish advocate of LGBTI people and umbrella of LGBTI organizations), this was already a great victory. Çavaria is happy that it became mandatory, so that schools can be evaluated taking this learning outcome into account.

Already in summer 2020, Ben Weyts (Minister of Education) stated that knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding sexual orientation and gender identity will also be included in the new learning outcomes. School teams can also take advantage of Çavaria coaching courses to improve the well-being of LGBTI students at school.