ABSTRACT
Belgium (pop. 11 million) is a federal state with three official languages: Dutch, French and German. The state is organized in terms of three semi-autonomous regions – the monolingual Dutch Flemish Region in the north (pop. 6.2 million); the monolingual French Walloon Region in the south (pop. 3.4 million); and the bilingual Dutch-French Brussels-Capital Region in the centre (pop. 1.1 million) – and three linguistic communities (the Flemish Community, the French Community and the German-speaking Community). This complex organization is the outcome of a long process of constitutional amendment and extensive linguistic legislation designed to create some kind of equilibrium between the Flemish and French communities, the two major language communities in Belgium, and to protect the position of Dutch in Belgium against the tide of Frenchification that started at the end of the eighteenth century (Baetens Beardsmore 1992). Although responsibility for education and language policy lies mainly with the three language communities, policies regarding the use and teaching of languages in education are
regulated by the national law of June 1963, which mandates that the only medium of instruction in schools must be the official language of the region; that is, Dutch in the Flemish Community, French in the French Community, German in the German-speaking Community and either French or Dutch in the Brussels-Capital Region. It follows that bilingual education, where a second language serves as a medium of instruction and not merely as a subject, is illegal in public education in Belgium (Baetens Beardsmore 1992).1 Exceptions are only permitted for ‘experimental educational projects’ after ministerial approval and were until recently only granted in exceptional circumstances.
