Heritage education is understood to be multifaceted. The way it is approached and conceived in formal educational contexts can differ according to the emphasis policy makers wish to establish. In Flanders, a region within Belgium, a curriculum reform took shape over the last seven years. This paper explores the recently introduced curriculum in Flemish secondary education, in light of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The main aim is to investigate how heritage education and sustainability fit into the newly developed curriculum framework, and the way they are interlinked on a conceptual level. The qualitative research draws on a screening of policy texts, learning outcomes, and additional interviews with policy advisors. The results show that heritage education is implicitly present. Cross-curricular opportunities are built-in and can be linked to (a) cultural awareness and expression; (b) historical consciousness; (c) citizenship; and (d) intercultural communication. Sustainable development, and more specific ESD, anchored itself firmly and more explicitly into the framework as a transversal key competence as well. However, clear connections to heritage education are not set up in the learning outcomes.

Neurological diseases caused by neuropathogenic strains of EHV1 are being reported with increasing frequency. Consequently, concern is being voiced within the US horse industry that the neurologic form of EHV1 may be intensifying in prevalence and/or morbidity and mortality. In Belgium, outbreaks of EHV1induced abortions are an annually recurrent phenomenon, but outbreaks of equine herpes myelitis (EHM) are rare. This report describes an unusually large outbreak of EHV1-induced EHM that involved at least 13 different premises. Seven of them were characterized in more detail and were included in this study. A morbidity of 26% was seen, with an EHM incidence of 43% in the affected horses. The outbreak was characterized by rapid occurrence of ataxia and paralysis immediately after disappearance of the fever. EHV1 was diagnosed by means of virus isolation and/or seroconversion. The isolated virus was classified either as neuropathogenic or as belonging to group 4 after sequencing in the ORF30 and ORF68 regions, respectively.The extent of this outbreak and the high percentage of neurological disease, along with the fact that EHM is only sporadically seen in Belgium, might indicate that the neurological form of EHV1 is possibly also emerging in Belgium. SAMENVATTINGZenuwstoornissen veroorzaakt door neuropathogene stammen van EHV1 worden met stijgende frequentie waargenomen. In de paardenindustrie van de Verenigde Staten is bezorgdheid geuit omtrent het feit dat de prevalentie van de neurologische vorm van EHV1, evenals de morbiditeit en mortaliteit, aan het toenemen zijn. Uitbraken van door EHV1-geïnduceerde abortus worden in België jaarlijks waargenomen, maar uitbraken van equiene herpes myelitis (EHM) zijn zeldzaam. In dit artikel wordt een ongewoon grote uitbraak van EHV1-geïnduceerde EHM beschreven, waarbij tenminste 13 bedrijven betrokken waren. Zeven van hen werden in meer detail onderzocht en werden in voorliggend onderzoek ingesloten. Er werd een morbiditeit gezien van 26%, met een EHM-incidentie van 43% bij de aangetaste paarden. De uitbraak werd gekarakteriseerd door het snel optreden van ataxie en paralyse onmiddellijk na het verdwijnen van de koorts. EHV1 werd gediagnosticeerd door middel van virusisolatie en/of seroconversie. Het geïsoleerde virus werd geclassificeerd als neuropathogeen en behorende tot groep 4 na sequenering in de ORF30-en ORF68-regio respectievelijk.De omvang van deze uitbraak en het hoge percentage neurologische ziekte, samen met het feit dat EHM slechts sporadisch wordt gezien in België, kunnen erop wijzen dat de neurologische vorm van EHV1 ook in opmars is in België.

The 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage introduces a set of interrelated measures among which education is an intersection point. Since education is crucial to the transmission of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), the States Parties have focused their attention on connecting their activities to the education sector in recent years, with formal education making up the greater part of the efforts. Belgium and Türkiye both ratified The Convention in 2006 and the education ministries in both parties seem to have concentrated on secondary education (12-18 years old) to raise awareness of the meaning and importance of safeguarding ICH. The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate the Flemish and Turkish formal education systems regarding the implementation of The Convention. Therefore, this qualitative research is based on the investigation of the policy texts and curriculum (mainly in Dutch and Turkish) that are explicitly or implicitly connected to the presence of ICH in the education systems of both cases. From this perspective, it takes the ratification of The Convention by both countries as its point of departure and presents three levels of discussion. First, in order to comprehend the present context wherein potential connections between ICH and education are established, the overall policy of Flanders and Türkiye is briefly outlined. Second, the discussion is directed to the implications these policy choices might raise. In the final section, the frame of discussion is further narrowed to the level of curricular choices. It can be stated that the analysis of the documents revolved around the implications of centrality (Türkiye) and autonomy (Flanders) to mobilize ICH in education. While in Türkiye, the course Folk Culture in secondary education was initiated on a national level as a direct response to The Convention, in Flanders, this safeguarding perspective did not seem to have permeated educational policy processes. However, the Flemish Government has developed an open curriculum framework that seems beneficial for the inclusion of relevant content on a regional or local level. Considering achieving connections with its specific teaching context, in both cases, attention has to be drawn to the role of teacher agency. It can be stated that teachers are in need of a balance between sufficient support (capacity building, instruction manuals, didactic suggestions, explicit references to ICH) and the autonomy to execute (open curricula, professional freedom).