The least one can say about this Owl School is that it has had a turbulent history. It was the first Flemish teacher training college, founded in 1816 under the reign of King William I. It was established as a 'Rijkskweekschool' (a training institute for teachers) to raise the quality of Dutch-language education. Not only Flemings studied there, but also students from other parts of the Netherlands, Wallonia, and Luxembourg.

The school flourished for a long time. After the Belgian Revolution, it was taken over by the Catholic Church, which continued teacher training there. The school played a crucial role in defending state education. Although it became a “state normal school” again after the Education Act of 1842, leadership remained in the hands of priests. In practice, it proved to be no easy task to find properly trained principals outside the Catholic Church.

The original school buildings were largely destroyed during the First World War. Thanks to the generous compensation for German war damage, new, modern buildings could be erected. Consequently, most of the current buildings date from 1926. After the Second World War, the curriculum was expanded to include a secondary department (teacher training). Despite the initial flourishing, the school nevertheless experienced a decline following the school reform of 1970.