Education and Training Monitor 2023

1. The teaching profession

Teaching is a very attractive profession in Luxembourg. High salaries, good job security, small classes and few teaching hours make teaching interesting for young people. The share of teachers aged 55 or older is only 9.9% (EU average: 24.4%). The share of men among teachers is one of the highest in OECD countries: 36% (OECD, 2023). After working for 15 years, a lower secondary teacher with minimum qualifications can expect to have one of the highest salaries. The days of instruction in pre-primary and lower secondary education are among the lowest in OECD countries (176 days) (OECD Education GPS). The average number of yearly teaching hours in primary and secondary education is 739 (OECD average: 800).

It is difficult to fill teaching positions with qualified teachers. Despite the favourable working conditions, the education sector faces a shortage of qualified workers. And entering the profession is difficult: applicants for tenure are selected from graduates in education studies via open competition where subject knowledge is tested. In addition, teachers must be proficient in the three national languages (Luxembourgish, German, French). As a result, those who pass the general competitions are mainly of Luxembourgish nationality. In a country with a growing school population, drawing from this small pool of eligible candidates leads to a short supply of civil servant teachers. Those who have the necessary qualifications but do not pass the open competition can be employed as ‘chargés’ (teachers employed by the state) and earn a lower salary. In basic education, from grades 1 to 6, it is also possible to work as a substitute after completing a 4-week internship with a secondary school diploma. Substitute staff are used on an ad hoc basis (e.g. when teachers are ill) or when there is a shortage of staff (Honig, 2017). In 2018, the Ministry of Education launched a programme for lateral entrants (‘Quereinsteiger’) for people holding a Bachelor’s degree in a subject linked to primary education. They can be appointed as teachers under the same conditions as education science graduates after completing 250 hours of training.

The University of Luxembourg is extending its offer of education programmes.The university offers a Bachelor programme for pre-school and primary school teacher education and another for specialists in social education / social work. There is also a Master’s programme for secondary education in German, French, Luxembourgish and mathematics. This Master’s provides a privileged access to becoming a secondary school teacher in Luxembourg as it shortens the required traineeship period. The Quereinsteiger recruitment programme will end in 2023/2024 and be replaced by a new one-year Bachelor programme offered by the university in September 2023. In addition, the university agreed to increase the number of primary teacher education places from 100 to 180 a year. Three new on-the-job Master’s programmes are being prepared to be launched in 2024/2025. These courses are for holders of a Bachelor’s degree in education sciences and focus on school management and development; inclusive education and pedagogical accessibility; and educational development, respectively. In 2022, the government allocated an extra EUR 12 million to finance the university’s above teacher education programmes.

Qualification requirements differ in international schools. Since 2016, Luxembourg has been investing heavily in its public school offer in English, French and German. It has set up European public schools offering either the Cambridge international curriculum, the international baccalaureate or the European baccalaureate (see Section 4). These schools offer language tracks where students can choose their preferred language of instruction between English, French and German instead of the national trilingual system.

2. Early childhood education and care

Participation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) under the age of 3 is relatively high, but from the age of 3 it is below the EU average. 54.7% of children under the age of 3 participate in formal childcare, which is one of the highest rates in the EU. 88.9% of children from the age of 3 participate in ECEC, below the EU average (92.5%) and the EU-level target (96%) for 2030. Compulsory education starts with 2 years of pre-school from the age of 4, which can be supplemented with an optional year from the age of 3. The 2016 Youth Act set national quality standards in ECEC that all providers had to meet by September 2017 in order to be eligible for the government’s childcare voucher co-financing scheme. This includes activities to familiarise children aged 1 to 4 with Luxembourgish and French. Childcare vouchers give children 20 hours a week of free care at nurseries, after-school centres, mini-nurseries¹ and day-care centres.

Most children are in contact with more than one language from birth. The National Youth Service carried out a survey among households with children aged 0-4 for a study on the languages used at home (SNJ, 2023). In total, 124 different languages were mentioned by parents; the five most mentioned were Luxembourgish, French, German, English and Portuguese. Around two thirds of children are in contact with at least two languages at home. French is the language most used in homes (62%), even higher than Luxembourgish (56%), whereas German is only spoken in the homes of 17% of children. The study argues for the use of French for learning to read and write as an alternative to German.

A study shows that participation in ECEC has a small to moderate impact on language learning. The Luxembourg Centre for Educational Testing (LUCET) of the University of Luxembourg analysed the oral comprehension of 6 to 7 year-old pupils based on their test results in the standardised national tests (LUCET, 2023a). The analysis shows that children who speak French or Portuguese at home have poorer oral comprehension levels in Luxembourgish and even poorer in German than their peers from German- or Luxembourgish-speaking families, regardless of their socio-economic background. Participation in ECEC only has a small or moderately positive impact on their language skills (Figure 1). Crèches use Luxembourgish and/or French to communicate with children attending their facilities. Nearly 33% of crèches use both languages; 32% only use Luxembourgish, 12.5% only use French, and 23% use other language combinations. Looking at the most prominent crèche language combinations (bilingual French/Luxembourgish, French only and Luxembourgish only), the biggest impact is on Luxembourgish listening comprehension. The impact on early literacy is small, and insignificant on mathematics performance. The survey results also show that repeating the final year of pre-primary education to improve children’s language skills has a negative impact on learning outcomes, putting the effectiveness of this widespread practice in Luxembourg into question. The study suggests that the high language demands in the traditional school system widens the performance gaps between pupils over time. German, the language of literacy, is not taught as a foreign language but is expected to be picked up by children naturally because of its similarity to Luxembourgish. However, researchers have observed that children who speak languages at home other than Luxembourgish or German do not easily transfer their language skills from Luxembourgish to German. Many of these children have later difficulties in reading and understanding German (LUCET, 2022). This observation calls for the promotion of German in ECEC to prepare children better for primary education and to align language policies in ECEC and later schooling.

Figure 1: Predicted Épstan performance score by crèche language

3. School education

With the rate of early leavers from education and training at 8.2% in 2022, Luxembourg already achieved the EU-level target (below 9%). However, this figure for the country should be treated with caution because of the limited sample size. According to national data, the proportion of young people aged 16-24 who left education and training without completing upper secondary education fell to 8.1% in 2021/2022 from 8.2% in 2020/2021 (MENJE, 2023a). This corresponds to what has been measured in the past 5 years, except for 2019/2020 when the level was exceptionally low (7.1%) due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most young people are aged between 16 and 18 when they drop out of school, which is the age for choosing between different educational paths. The proportion of boys who drop out is more than 50% higher than that of girls (62% vs 38%). In 2021/2022, 80% of pupils who dropped out had repeated a school year at least once. A quarter of young people dropping out of school have repeated a year twice; one third have repeated a year three times or more (Figure 2). The repetition rate is generally high in Luxembourg: by the end of primary education (age 12), 21% of pupils have repeated at least one school year (MENJE, 2023b). Across the different secondary education sectors, most young people dropped out of vocational education and training (VET) (38%) or the second cycle of general secondary education (enseignement secondaire général) (23%). In 2019/2020, 55% of early school leavers were of foreign nationality while they only made up 33% of the school population (OECD, 2021).

Compulsory schooling has been extended to the age of 18. According to a survey by the National Youth Service (MENJE, 2021), young people who have left education without a qualification are three times more likely not to participate in education, employment or training between the ages of 20 and 34 than their peers who continued or completed secondary education. In 2022, the proportion of 15-29-year-olds not in education, employment or training was 7.4% (EU average: 13.1%)². In order to reduce early school leaving and youth unemployment, the compulsory school age was raised from 16 to 18 years in July 2023. The law will enter into force from 2026/2027 and will be combined with expanding the education and training offer to give young people a better chance of getting a qualification. Alternative schooling pathways will be offered at socio-professional integration centres (Centres d’insertion socio-professionnelle - CISP). The centres provide personalised support alongside formal education in close collaboration with social workers, the partner schools, the Regional Childcare Office and the families of young people.

Figure 2: Distribution of grade repetitions by number of repeated grades among school drop-outs, 2017-2021

Preventive measures help young people plan their career and make them accountable for their choices. The National Youth Service (SNJ) identifies young people who are at risk or have already dropped out and contacts them individually to give them guidance. These young people are then informed of possible training and jobs. If a return to school or a move to work cannot be considered right away, the National Youth Service can propose participation in a 3–12-month voluntary programme, during which young people are accompanied. This gives young people practical experience and improves their soft skills. More young people are taking this up, with more than 430 agreements signed in 2021/2022 (MENJE, 2023a). The National Youth Service also organises various workshops, training and short ‘discovery’ traineeships in companies. The number of participants is increasing rapidly, having reached almost 3 000 in 2021/2022.

Pupils’ performance is strongly linked to their socio-economic status and linguistic background. In 2018, Luxembourg’s average competence levels, as measured by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), were significantly lower than the EU average in all three areas tested. The score gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students was the largest one observed across all EU countries. The national competence tests show that at the time of starting school, pupils have the essential basic skills to begin acquiring literacy, even though significant differences in these initial skills could be identified (Hornung et al., 2021). However, in the first year of primary of the national school system, German is not introduced as a second or third language. Pupils are expected to instinctively understand it thanks to a direct cognitive transfer from Luxembourgish to German. By the time pupils start year 3 in primary school, aged 8, the skills gap widens. Many pupils’ performance in German reading comprehension and maths falls noticeably, particularly pupils from a disadvantaged background or those whose first language is neither German nor Luxembourgish. In its 2023 country-specific recommendation, the Council of the EU recommended that Luxembourg takes measures to improve the performance of the school education system and promote equal opportunities for all students, in particular by adapting teaching to the needs of disadvantaged students and those from different linguistic backgrounds (Council of the European Union, 2023).

Luxembourg is increasing its education offer with different language regimes. In the national system, all subjects are taught either in French or German, so students’ performance heavily depends on their command of these languages³. The trilingual system is challenging for all but especially for the one third of pupils (MENJE, 2023b) who do not speak any of Luxembourg’s three official languages at home. Scientific evidence suggests that reading and numeracy develop best when learnt in the first language. To improve learning outcomes, a pilot project was launched in four primary schools in 2022/2023 where pupils start learning first in French and then continue in German. The level of skills to be acquired remains the same; it is the order of teaching languages that changes. The pilot is supported by a scientific advisory board and evaluated by LUCET whose preliminary findings are expected in spring 2024. The government plans to extend this approach at national level in 2026/2027 if the pilot is successful. This option could improve the success of French-speaking pupils in the national school system.

Luxembourg is extending its offer in European public schools. Luxembourg’s sixth accredited European school opened in September 2022. Pupils in these schools follow the European curriculum and may choose English, French or German as a main language (and also Portuguese in one of the schools). Luxembourgish is taught twice a week until the third year of secondary school, and foreign languages, such as Italian and Portuguese, are optional subjects. Public international schools are a possible alternative for pupils who have difficulties with the trilingual system or who stay in the country only temporarily. In 2021/2022, 16.5% of pupils attended a European or international public or private school, indicating a big demand (Backes & Lenz, 2021; SCRIPT, 2022). The share of pupils in international private schools was 6.6% at primary level and 11.2% at secondary level in 2018 (LUCET, 2021). Anyone can attend a European public school for free, but the share of pupils from lower socio-economic backgrounds or from a Portuguese-language background has not yet reached their average share in the school population (LUCET, 2023b).

4. Vocational education and training

In 2021, 60.8%⁴ of all upper secondary students took part in VET programmes. The employment rate of VET graduates (ISCED 3-4) (92.1%) is well above the EU average (77.4%)⁵. Luxembourg prepared a comprehensive national implementation plan to address the EU priorities and achieve its national objectives in VET and lifelong learning (Government, 2021). The plan includes the following high-level objectives: develop a national skills strategy for continuous VET and modernise and improve the attractiveness of initial VET programmes.

Requirements for enrolment in VET were changed to make it easier to participate. Many young people drop out from vocational training, which students used to start once they signed an apprenticeship contract with an employer. Since 2020 this requirement has been modified: young people can start at a VET school while looking for an employer. They are assisted in this by the socio-pedagogical teams of the schools, the national centres of continuous vocational training centres (CNFPC) and the local centres of the National Youth Service. To get more companies interested in apprentice training, the government introduced a special apprentice incentive of EUR 1 500 in 2020. If a vocational training student does not succeed in signing an apprenticeship contract by 30 November of the year they started their training, they can enrol in a CNFPC class for the second semester. There, they can follow various orientation sessions and receive personal pedagogical support.

Luxembourg is one of the first EU countries to introduce the European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDCL).EDCL include diplomas, transcripts of records and many other types of certificates of learning achievement. They are multilingual and signed with a unique electronic seal, i.e. the digital equivalent of an institution’s rubber stamp. Since 2019, Luxembourg has been among the 18 countries taking part in the pilot implementation of this new tool, designed by the European Commission as part of the Europass platform. In 2021, Luxembourg was also one of the first countries to issue more than 1 600 of these digital certificates to all students in vocational training. A total of 529 technician diploma (diplôme de technicien – DT) certificates, 951 vocational aptitude diploma (diplôme d’aptitude professionnelle – DAP) certificates and 134 vocational capacity certificates (certificat de capacité professionnelle – CCP) were issued digitally in addition to the traditional paper format (MENJE, 2021).

5. Higher education

Luxembourg’s tertiary educational attainment rate is among the highest in the EU, with 61.0% of the population aged 25-34 holding a tertiary degree (EU: 42.0%). The proportion of highly skilled women in this age group exceeds that of men by 7.4 percentage points (EU: 11.1). The rate is significantly higher among the migrant population (67.2% vs 52.7% of people born in Luxembourg). Among those foreign born, the rate of high-skilled people is higher among those born in the EU (69.1% vs 63.4%). The employment rate of recent tertiary graduates improved by 8.1 percentage points in one year, reaching 93.2% in 2022 (EU average: 86.7%). This is close to the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. Study programmes at the University of Luxembourg are bilingual, trilingual (French, German, English) or entirely in English. As a study period abroad is a prerequisite for obtaining the Bachelor’s degree at the University of Luxembourg, almost all graduates (94%) have experience of studying abroad (MESR, 2023).

The University of Luxembourg is introducing new programmes. A new one-year Bachelor programme in education will start in September 2023 (see Section 2). Some other programmes were introduced in 2021/2022. These include a Bachelor’s programme for aspiring music teachers, a multidisciplinary Master’s programme in data science, digital transformation in finance (part of the Master’s of science in finance and economics) and digital procurement (part of the Master’s in logistics and supply chain management). Following the launch of the Bachelor’s in medicine in 2020, the university is also expanding its medical studies with three new specialisations in general medicine, oncology and neurology.

6. Adult learning

Adults tend to learn more in Luxembourg than in the rest of the EU. In 2022, overall participation in adult learning was at 18.1%⁶ (EU average: 11.9%) although still below the 2019 level (19.1%). This overall performance hides high disparities in the participation rate among certain groups, e.g. 8.3% for workers over 55 and only 6.9% for low-skilled people vs 24.5% for high-skilled people. Luxembourg set itself the target of 62.5% of adults participating in education and training by 2030. Having this target in mind, the national skills strategy intends to improve participation and skills development of the most vulnerable groups, in particular the low-skilled. The strategy also helps develop the population’s digital skills to achieve the target of 80% of adults aged 16-74 having at least basic skills by 2030.

Luxembourg faces skill mismatches and shortages. The unemployment rate stood at 4.6% in 2022⁷ with employers in most sectors reporting recruitment difficulties (ICT, health, the food service and hotel sector, transport and the financial sector). In 2022, the Digital Economy and Society Index showed that despite an above-EU average share of ICT specialists and graduates, the shortage of ICT specialists might impede the digitalisation of Luxembourg’s economy. Developing and adapting skills is high on the government’s agenda. There have been many initiatives over the last years to promote vocational training among workers and job seekers, address the challenges of digitalisation and better anticipate skill needs. Since July 2020, the Skillsdësch Initiative brings together the government and social partners to respond to current and future skill needs in the labour market. Under the Luxembourg recovery and resilience plan, both the Futureskills investment for jobseekers (with a specific target for older workers) and the skills reform launched under the Skillsdësch reached their respective goals as planned for the first payment request sent in December 2022. Under the 2021-2027 European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) programme, EUR 5.59 million will be earmarked to support digital skills and EUR 2.56 million for green skills and jobs, which corresponds to more than one third of the country’s ESF+ allocation.