Adult education

You can follow adult education in the Centres for Adult Education (CVO - Centra voor Volwassenenonderwijs) and the Centres for Elementary Education (CBE - Centra Basiseducatie). There are three levels in adult education: ‘elementary education’, ‘secondary adult education’ and ‘higher vocational education’.

• Elementary education provides basic training for adults with a low literacy level (from the age of 18). Elementary training helps them to function in society or following further courses. The centres for elementary education have a wide and varied range including reading, writing, arithmetic, social orientation, ICT, Dutch as mother tongue (reading and writing), Dutch for those with a different mother tongue, stepping stone to English, stepping stone to French, etc. The courses are organised in modules. You receive a certificate for each module. Once you have completed all the modules, you receive a certificate for the course.
• Secondary adult education provides courses at the level of full-time secondary education (from the second stage). In secondary adult education, adults from the age of 18 can obtain a fully-fledged diploma of secondary education. In Brussels, CVO Brussel and CVO Lethas offer secondary adult education.
• Higher vocational education (HBO) provides vocational courses at higher education level, but with a ‘graduate’ diploma (just below the professional bachelor's degree). The HBO courses are practice-oriented and prepare students to exercise a profession. HBO courses are usually given in adult education. The nursing course, for instance, (fourth stage secondary education) is higher vocational training.