The right to education is a fundamental human right. Every child has the right to fulfill their potential through learning. Promoting the self-confidence and development of each student and ensuring equal opportunities are among the goals of the « Mission Statement » for education within the FWB.
Khan Academy provides primary and secondary school students with over 5,900 videos and 10,000 exercises and quizzes in math, science, IT and finance. The platform offers teachers a dedicated space where they can create their online class, assign exercises and track their students’ progress, as well as set up differentiation and remediation strategies to prevent students from dropping out of school and provide support for their students.
In Belgium, BSF adapts the content of the videos and exercises to the FWB educational standards. We also offer training courses for primary and secondary schools, higher education establishments, and libraries.
Integrating digital tools in science & math pedagogical practices
This good practice guide aims to help you navigate the wide range of possibilities that digital tools offer in school environments nowadays.
This guide was designed as part of the European KHAN4STEM project.
The challenges of teaching
- Belgian school systems are among the most inequitable in the OECD. 31% of students in their last year of primary school fall behind academically if they come from a disadvantaged background, compared with 12% if they have a higher socio-economic index.
- The 2015 PISA studies found a learning gap equivalent to 3 years of education between students from more advantaged and those from less advantaged families.
- PISA results for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation are lower than those of neighboring countries, with a difference equivalent to 0.8 years of study compared with Flanders.
- 46% of students have repeated at least one grade by the age of 15, compared with 12% in the OECD. In Brussels, 14.8% of 18-24 year-olds have no upper secondary diploma and are not in education or training (1 in 10 in Wallonia).
- In Belgium, public spending per student is among the highest in the OECD.
... and its solutions!
Improving the quality of education reduces the risk of impoverishment. This risk is halved for people with an upper secondary diploma.
Remediation should be integrated into the classroom. A student who encounters difficulties should be able to benefit from direct support from the teacher, or even from the other students, in order to catch up with his or her classmates as quickly as possible. It is essential that these students, who do not learn at the same pace as the rest of the group, are not left behind.
It is essential that a teacher can be able to link a child’s behavior or learning difficulties to his or her social reality.
Such a goal can only be achieved by improving initial and in-service training for teachers, to include active and differentiated pedagogical practices.
Khan Academy, a platform to help students succeed in math and science through differentiation, remediation and revision tools.
Through Khan Academy, we work with teachers, students and educators to help transform education. The platform has been adapted into French and Dutch by Libraries Without Borders since 2013. Over 5,900 videos and around ten thousand exercises and articles have been created and translated by French-speaking educators and teachers under the supervision of a scientific committee.
In its Belgian and French version, the platform covers the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles educational reference materials in mathematics, from primary school to the beginning of higher education. It also includes the science curriculum (physics, chemistry, organic chemistry and biology) for upper secondary school, and an introduction to computer science.
Our educational resources and training courses are 100% free and offer personalized learning in key academic subjects from primary to secondary school.
An impact on young people…
I just wanted to tell you that I received my report card today and that I didn't fail math, it's the first time this has happened to me and I wanted to thank you for giving me a second chance to succeed and thanks to Khan Academy I've made great progress too.
and on convinced teachers.
One of the best things with Khan Academy is the way students do math naturally. They arrive and automatically open Khan Academy. They don't need any instructions. They take the initiative themselves. "Ah sir! I understood that, can I explain it to him?", hearing that when there's someone who hasn't understood, it's a joy.