## Public Education in Belgium: Improving Outcome While Reducing Cost

_Selected Issues Papers, March 26, 2025_

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## Bibliographic details
- Authors: Jean-Jacques Hallaert
- Published: March 26, 2025
- Series: Selected Issues Papers
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.5089/9798229005098.018

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### Summary findings
- Educational outcomes in Belgium are comparable to peers but achieved at a higher cost.
- The public wage bill for education is higher than in peers, reflecting smaller student-to-teacher ratios and less teaching time.
- Belgium experiences teacher shortages despite the higher public wage bill.

### Implications for the economy and labor market
- Reforms to education would help increase the employment rate.
- Reducing the skills mismatch would reduce the need for firms to provide training to upgrade skills.
- Improving education efficiency would boost productivity.
- Better education outcomes and efficiency would increase the creation and diffusion of innovation.
- Ultimately, these reforms would improve potential growth.

### Policy recommendations and priorities
- Increase the efficiency of public spending on education while achieving greater equality of educational outcomes.
- Address teacher shortages in the context of maintaining or improving teaching capacity and learning time.
- Target reforms that lower the skills mismatch between graduates and labor market needs to reduce firm-level training burdens and support productivity and innovation.

*Source: Jean-Jacques Hallaert (March 26, 2025), Selected Issues Papers 2025, 021.*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/selected-issues-papers/issues/2025/03/25/public-education-in-belgium-improving-outcome-while-reducing-cost-565569_