Sharing Birmingham’s expertise and bringing home new insights to benefit local schools
Two senior officers from Birmingham City Council’s Children and Families Directorate visited Brussels on the 9th and 10th February 2026 to contribute to an international programme of educational exchange with GO! Brussels, one of Belgium’s leading school groups. The visit was arranged through the organisation’s International Projects Coordinator, reflecting strong interest in Birmingham’s experience in school improvement and inclusive education.
Sharing Birmingham’s expertise
Belgium is undertaking an ambitious programme of curriculum reform, with a particular focus on equity, system coherence and knowledge-rich teaching. As part of this process, Belgian partners sought insights from UK cities with long experience navigating educational improvement in diverse and rapidly changing contexts.
During the visit, Birmingham officers delivered a series of professional sessions discussing:
These sessions showcased the depth of Birmingham’s expertise across policy, leadership and practice, while offering a transparent look at how strong educational outcomes have been supported across the city.
Learning through exchange
Alongside the formal programme, the delegation visited several Belgian pilot schools taking part in the early implementation of the country’s new reforms. These visits enabled in-depth discussion with school leaders and practitioners about classroom-level change, curriculum planning and the day-to-day realities of major system reform.
The exchange provided Birmingham with valuable comparative insights into how another European system is tackling common challenges—from strengthening equity and inclusion to supporting teachers through significant shifts in curriculum and pedagogy. These perspectives will directly inform ongoing work across Birmingham’s school-improvement and curriculum-development programmes.
Building on Birmingham’s ambition
The visit also aligns closely with the direction set out in the BCC Plan 2025-2028, which commits to making Birmingham a city where every child receives high-quality education, safeguarding and inclusion underpin all services, and where collaboration—locally and internationally—strengthens the city’s future.
Engaging with partners in Brussels reinforces Birmingham’s commitment to learning from global experience and contributes to a culture of continuous improvement across the education system. The insights gathered will help inform local policy and practice and support Birmingham’s ambition to be an outward-looking confident and connected city.
A collaboration built for long-term impact
For Birmingham, the trip represents more than a single exchange—it marks the beginning of a relationship that both sides hope to develop further. Travelling as a pair allowed the officers to draw on complementary areas of expertise, offering a fuller picture of Birmingham’s approach to curriculum, safeguarding, leadership and system-wide improvement.
Their work together ensured that the conversations in Brussels were rich, detailed and forward-looking. Belgian colleagues expressed strong interest in continuing the dialogue and exploring future opportunities for collaboration, whether through professional exchanges, shared learning networks or potential school-to-school partnerships.
For the city, the long-term value lies in remaining connected to international thinking and innovative practice. As the city works to improve outcomes for children and young people, relationships like this help ensure Birmingham remains dynamic, informed and engaged—part of a wider global community committed to helping learners thrive.
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