Sint-Lukas art academy to offer free Dutch courses to attract more students

Sint-Lukas art academy to offer free Dutch courses to attract more students
"Just because you can get by in Dutch in daily life does not mean you know how to say 'brush' or 'charcoal'," said the director of the school. Credit: Academie Sint-Lukas

The Sint-Lukas art academy in Schaerbeek wants to make its courses more approachable for students with limited knowledge of Dutch by offering free language courses in addition to their normal curriculum.

"Dutch is often a big threshold for potential candidates who want to enrol in the arts program," said Ellen Janssens, the director of the Academy, to Bruzz. "This crash course is supposed to change that," she added.

"Teachers used to switch to a combination of French and English when needed, but that sadly did not lower the threshold," said Janssens, but even with teachers trying to accommodate whenever they could, students still dropped out.

The free Dutch crash course, ten classes of three hours, is only available for students over 16 so far, who will be coached by two volunteering teachers. After a few lessons, they will be working in the workshops, still being helped by their Dutch teacher whenever necessary.

The crash course will focus on specialised language for the arts. "Just because you can get by in Dutch in daily life does not mean you know how to say 'brush' or 'charcoal'," she added, according to Het Laatste Nieuws

So far, the course is only a test project, but in the long term, the academy wants to offer a structural course. "We will be evaluated systematically, and hope for financing in the future," Janssens added.

Maïthé Chini

The Brussels Times


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