Current and Future Challenges

It is becoming necessary to redefine and revise the guidelines for music education ever more frequently (teaching and learning objectives, lesson content etc.). Schools, institutions that maintain schools and ministries recommend further education courses, and in some subjects such courses have recently become compulsory. It is for this reason that an institute dealing specifically with further education, the IFC (Institut de Formation Continue) was founded two years ago. This institute is responsible for the planning and implementation of further education courses. In Flanders, or the Flemish community, most of the activities are organised by the Flemish Association of Music Teachers ("Muzes"). The new curricula for secondary school education demand an interdisciplinary approach to education. In order to meet this demand, music teachers will have to be more heavily involved in general arts instruction and training in future; the intention is that this will be achieved both within the undergraduate course as well as by means of special courses offered in the field of further education for teachers.