Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016
1.
Key indicators
Sources: Eurostat (see section 9 for more details); OECD (PISA).
Notes: data refer to weighted EU averages, covering different numbers of Member States depending on the source; b = break in time series, d = definition differs, p = provisional, u = low reliability, 11 = 2011, 13 = 2013, 14 =2014.
Further information can be found in the relevant section of Volume 1 (ec.europa.eu/education/monitor).
Figure 1. Position in relation to strongest (outer ring) and weakest performers (centre)
Source: DG Education and Culture calculations, based on data from Eurostat (LFS 2015) and OECD (PISA 2012).
Note: all scores are set between a maximum (the strongest performers, represented by the outer ring) and a minimum (the weakest performers, represented by the centre of the figure).
2012 2015 2012 2015 8.1% 9.3%b 12.7% 11.0% 49.6% 52.3%b 36.0% 38.7% 95.6%11 98.4%14 93.2%11 94.3%14 22.2% : 17.8% : 24.3% : 22.1% : 22.2% : 16.6% : ISCED 3-8 (total) 84.6% 84.7%b 75.9% 76.9% 14.2% 18.0%b 9.2% 10.7% 5.6% 5.2%14 5.0% 4.9%14,p ISCED 1-2 €15.293 :13 : :13 ISCED 3-4 €15.415 :13 : :13 ISCED 5-8 : :13 : :13 7.1% 6.9%b 11.6% 10.1% 10.6% 15.6%b 24.9% 19.0% 41.7% 48.5%b 36.7% 39.4% 55.4% 57.4%b 33.8% 36.4% 83.8% 77.8%b 69.7% 70.8% 85.1% 89.6%b 81.5% 81.9% 20.9%13 23.9%14 5.5%13 5.9%14 58.8%13 49.6%14 13.6%13 13.9%14
Employment rate of recent graduates by educational attainment
(age 20-34 having left education 1-3 years before reference year)
ISCED 3-4 ISCED 5-8
Learning mobility Inbound graduates mobility (bachelor) Inbound graduates mobility (master) Early leavers from education and
training (age 18-24)
Native-born Foreign-born Tertiary educational attainment
(age 30-34)
Native-born Foreign-born Employment rate of recent graduates
by educational attainment
(age 20-34 having left education 1-3 years before reference year) Adult participation in lifelong learning
(age 25-64) ISCED 0-8 (total)
Other contextual indicators
Education investment
Public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP Expenditure on public and private institutions per student in € PPS Tertiary educational attainment
(age 30-34) Total
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) (from age 4 to starting age of compulsory education)
Proportion of 15 year-olds with underachievement in:
Reading Maths Science Early leavers from education and
training (age 18-24) Total
Luxembourg EU average
2.
Highlights
In Luxembourg virtually all children participate in early childhood education and care from age four. Recent measures aim at improving the quality of these services, particularly to reduce socio-economic disadvantages.
The proportion of early school leavers is still below the EU average but increased in 2015.
All students learn two foreign languages in lower-secondary education. Trilingual education, however, represents a challenge for many students and affects their success in all school subjects.
Luxembourg has the EU's second-highest tertiary educational attainment rate among 30-34 year-olds and has significantly increased funding in this sector in recent years.
3.
Investing in education to address demographic and
skill challenges
General government expenditure on education as a share of GDP was at 5.2 % in 2014, slightly above the EU average of 4.9 %.191
Luxembourg has a very mixed population, 46 % of which is foreign-born.192 Immigrants tend to
be highly educated and 45.7 % of adult immigrants have a tertiary degree. Due to the high proportion of highly skilled migrants, the employment rate among immigrants (75.1 %) is higher than across the EU (71.6 %) and even than the native-born population (66.7 %). Migration background however is one of the challenges to be tackled in the Luxembourgish education system (see section 4).
Funding for higher education has increased substantially in recent years. The budget increase covers the University of Luxembourg's move to its new site in the south of the country from 2015/2016. A total of EUR 800 million were earmarked for related infrastructural development for the period 2010-2019. Funding for the university's operational costs has more than doubled from EUR 72 million in 2009 to EUR 154.1 million in 2016.
4.
Tackling inequalities and promoting inclusion
Luxembourg's early school leaving rate rose by 3 percentage points in 2015, to 9.3 %, though part of the variation may be due to the small size of the sample. While the rate is still below the EU average of 11 % and Luxembourg's Europe 2020 national target of 10 %, the increase from the previous year is still substantial. The trend is even more worrying as national data for 2013/2014, the latest year available, also indicate an increase from the previous year and estimate the rate at more than 13 %193 (Ministry of Education 2016).
On the positive side, virtually all children — 98.4 % — participate in early childhood education and care (ECEC) from age four. This can help prevent early school leaving in the long term. Luxembourg has a high frequency of grade repetitions. The graduation rate in the minimum period of a secondary school programme is only 41 %, the lowest among the OECD countries and far below the OECD average of 72 % (OECD 2014). The difference in the proportion of students completing secondary school within the minimum period and those completing it within two additional years is 30 %, which is the highest rate across the OECD countries (OECD 2014).
191 Source: Eurostat, General government expenditure by function (COFOG) database. 192 Source: Eurostat, online table code: lfsa_argan.
193 National surveys on early school leaving are based on the number of young people aged between 16-
Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016 Figure 2. Successful completion of upper secondary programmes
Source: OECD (2014)
Grade repetition is high in all secondary school types but particularly in the lower cycles of the technical secondary school — the preparatory regime (77 %) and lower technical secondary education (57 %) (Klapproth and Schaltz 2015). Data shows that the probability of repeating a grade is almost 50 % higher for students of Portuguese nationality than for Luxembourgish students with similar school scores.
Repeating years is costly and demotivating for students: a survey among early school leavers has shown that school failure was one of the major reasons given for interrupting their studies (Ministry of Education 2015). The adverse effect of grade repetition increases with the number of grades repeated: more than half of early school leavers who have repeated a grade only once interrupt their education only temporarily. Students who repeat two or more grades are less likely to return to any form of education and training later on.
15-year-olds in Luxembourg perform below the EU average in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in all three components: mathematics, reading and science. Students’ performance is largely influenced by the school type. 93 % of the variation in performance between schools is explained by the study programmes and socioeconomic status. PISA surveys between 2003 and 2012 show some deterioration, both in terms of equity and performance. In the same period the proportion of students with an immigrant background grew by more than 10 pps. (OECD 2013). In 2014/2015, students speaking a different language than Luxembourgish at home were already in the majority, at 62 % (Ministry of Education 2016b).
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Students from families where another language than Luxembourgish is spoken are more likely to fall behind in all subjects and be oriented to the technical tracks of secondary school, together with students who are less good in French.194 Research shows that teachers’ tracking
recommendations are biased by the immigrant backgrounds of the students (Glock et al. 2013). The difference in the language regimes of the general and technical tracks of secondary education narrows the scope for switching from technical to general education.
Figure 3. Proportion of low-achievers by socio-economic status
Source: OECD (2013)
In 2013/2014 47.4 % of Luxembourgish students completing primary education were oriented to general secondary school, while this was the case for only 11.4 % of Portuguese students and 33.6 % of students of other nationalities (MENJE/University of Luxemburg 2015). The proportion of Portuguese students oriented to the preparatory regime — the lowest form of secondary education — is 21 %, which is particularly high compared to other nationalities. By comparison, only 8 % of Luxembourgish students and 14 % of those of other nationalities enter this track.
The government tabled some reforms to address the root causes of early school leaving and aim at improving equity in the Luxembourg school system. A February 2015 amendment of the government bill on youth introduces mandatory quality standards for all education and childcare services, parental assistants and youth centres. The Parliament will vote on it in autumn 2016. Quality assurance has become important given the rapid expansion of nurseries and day care services since 2000 without proper quality standards. Financial support for participation in ECEC, the 'childcare-service' voucher, has been extended to children of commuting workers on condition that the institution meets the necessary quality requirements. From September 2018 participation in early childhood education and care is planned to become free for children from one to four years.
It is planned to complete the quality management system by focussing more on developing language skills in children from one to four years. The intention is to prepare children better for their schooling through linguistic immersion activities in Luxembourgish and French. Eight childcare institutions are taking part in a pilot phase of language preparation activities from
194 At the end of primary education — in grade 6 — teachers orient students to either general secondary
schools, technical secondary schools or so-called preparatory classes on the basis of their results in the national tests in German, French and mathematics and the teachers’ overall assessment of students’ performance. General secondary is geared towards higher education. Technical secondary leads mainly to vocational education but its highest strand, the technical regime, also allows access to higher education. The proportion of students in the two different tracks was 32 % in the general and 68 % in the technical path in 2013/2014 (MENJE/University of Luxemburg, 2015). As of 2016/2017, parents are to be involved in the orientation decision.
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% BG CY RO EL SK HU HR LT LU PT FR SE ES IT CZ BE AT SI LV UK DE DK IE PL NL FI EE Bottom quarter socio-economic index Top quarter socio-economic index Average low achievement in maths
Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016
March to December 2016. Based on the report on the pilot phase, it is planned to extend the system to all childcare institutions from 2017/2018 (Ministry of Education 2016d).
The proportion of children with officially diagnosed special needs is relatively low in Luxembourg, at 1 %. Under an agreement signed in February 2016 between the Minister of Education and the national trade union of teachers, 150 special education teachers will be recruited over the next four years. They will assist students with learning difficulties and behaviour problems at their schools (Ministry of Education 2016c).
Preliminary data indicates a sharp increase in the number of students who are applicants for international protection in 2015/2016 from the previous year. At 268, the number of refugee children enrolled in primary and secondary school alone in the first quarter of 2015/2016 was higher than in the whole school year 2014/2015 (Ministry of Education 2016b pp. 78-80). A ‘Refugees Task Force’ was set up in 2015 to coordinate the various measures undertaken by the Ministry of Education, Childhood and Youth for the children of refugees.
At primary level, these children are enrolled in classes ‘attached’ to the school cycle corresponding to their age and previous schooling. The languages used at school as well as other subjects are taught to them in specific welcome classes, which last at least one year. Applicants for international protection are also assisted by intercultural mediators who facilitate communication between the teachers and the families. Half of the students who complete the welcome class at the end of 2015/2016 are expected to start at a regular secondary school (Ministry of Education 2016e). Students beyond the compulsory school age (16) can join a welcome class for young adults, enter upper-secondary education in French or follow vocational training.
Box 1: The challenges of trilingual education
Luxembourg’s trilingual education system is both an asset and a challenge for its highly diverse student population. Differences between the languages spoken at home and the first language used at school, Luxembourgish, are made more complex by the use of German for teaching children to read and write and gradually also for all other subjects in primary school. French is added as a third language in grade two. In general secondary education, French is used for teaching mathematics and gradually extended to the other subjects, becoming the language of tuition in all subjects from the fourth year of secondary. In addition, English is introduced in secondary education. The dominant language in technical secondary education is German, with French used in mathematics.
The use of French in teaching mathematics at secondary school may explain some of students’ difficulties with mathematics. Research has shown that switching between German and French, which have clearly different number-naming structures, interferes with students' ability to solve arithmetic problems (Van Rinsveld et al. 2015). Bilingual students in Luxembourg perform both simple and complex additions faster and better in German than in French.
Learning languages account for half of the time students are taught over their whole education. Their success in all subjects largely depends on their command of the languages in which these are taught (Government of Luxembourg 2015, p. 50).
To better prepare children for trilingual schooling, immersion-type activities for French and Luxembourgish are being introduced in ECEC. Students can also choose to enrol in one of the international schools in Luxembourg with a simplified language regime. These private schools, however, charge tuition fees and admission is limited, with preference mostly given based on nationality. The opening in September 2016 of the International School of Differdange (Ecole Internationale de Differdange — EIDD), the first international state school offering primary and secondary education free of charge, is therefore an important step in extending school choice. EIDD students will be able to do their classes in either French or English throughout the 12 years of their schooling.
The EIDD is unique in that it combines the Luxembourgish state syllabus with that of the European Schools. Following a 5-year European primary cycle, students can follow a 7-year
European secondary cycle leading to the European Baccalaureate, which is recognised throughout the EU. Alternatively, students leaving the primary cycle can choose to enrol in the Luxembourgish preparatory courses. Upon completion of the three grades of preparatory courses they may either join the European secondary cycle or follow the vocational training offered in the school. Classes will be introduced gradually and the school will eventually have some 1 400 students.
5.
Modernising school education
Class sizes are small in Luxembourg and teachers receive the highest salaries in the EU. The teaching profession is attractive and the teaching workforce is the youngest in the OECD (OECD 2015b). School autonomy is below the OECD average as regards resource allocation and decisions on curriculum and assessment (OECD 2016). School evaluations are based on internal evaluations with strong national standards and support mechanisms.
The reform of secondary education (first tabled in 2009 and reintroduced in 2013) is still blocked at government level following strong opposition from teachers’ trade unions. In January 2016, the Minister of National Education, Children and Youth announced that a new bill would be finalised by the end of the year.
As of September 2015, the newly created National Education Training Institute (Institut de formation de l’Education nationale) took over the initial training of teacher trainees from the University of Luxembourg. The institute will also be in charge of in-work training of teachers (Ministry of Education 2016b).
As part of a civil service reform, a three-year professional training period is being introduced for all new civil servants, including teachers, from 2016. A training period did not exist before at primary education level. According to the new regulation proposal, teacher trainees will need to pass an entrance exam to be admitted to the three-year training period.
In February 2016 the Minister signed an agreement with a national teacher trade-union (SEW) on measures to develop the quality of fundamental (i.e. primary) education. The measures include further developing teacher training, strengthening the autonomy of schools, reforming the ‘school success plan’ (Plan de la réussite scolaire), reorganising the transition from primary to secondary education and increasing parents’ participation.
In June 2016 the ministry in charge of education signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Luxembourg for the creation of the Luxembourg Centre for School Development within the university. The new centre will coordinate the university research programmes in the field of education. One of its tasks will be to draft a 5-yearly report on the quality of the education system (Bildungsbericht). The centre will also assist schools with developing their school programmes and create teaching materials.
There have also been some changes in the curriculum. As of 2016/2017 a new common ‘values education’ (Vie et société) course replaces the previous ‘moral and social education’ and ‘religious and moral instruction’ courses in primary and secondary education. In parallel, a time- limited opportunity for professional reorientation is being offered to teachers who have been working for at least 5 years as religion teachers or as supply teachers at elementary schools. They will be able to follow a 2-year training programme (instead of 4 years) leading to a Bachelor in Educational Sciences. This will enable them to be employed as fully qualified elementary school teachers.
6.
Modernising higher education
Luxembourg has the EU's second-highest tertiary educational attainment rate among 30-34 year olds, at 52.3 % in 2015. To strengthen its knowledge economy, Luxembourg has set the target of further increasing the rate to 66 % by 2020. The employment rate of recent tertiary
Education and Training Monitor 2016 – Country analysis November 2016
graduates is 89.6 %, well beyond the EU average (81.9 %). Luxembourg has both the largest proportion of international students (44 %) and the largest proportion of national students enrolled in institutions abroad (68 %) among OECD countries (OECD 2016).196
High tertiary attainment is partly due to the high proportion of the immigrant population with a tertiary degree. To facilitate cross-border mobility of workers in the region, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands signed an agreement in May 2015 to automatically recognise higher education diplomas issued in the Benelux countries.197
To meet the strong demand for high-skilled workers, Luxembourg has increased its investment in higher education substantially in recent years. In addition to doubling the funding of the University of Luxembourg between 2009 and 2016 and the additional infrastructure investments in the new site (see section 3), the system for financing studies has also been restructured. This reform followed a ruling by the European Court of Justice that children of commuting workers are also eligible for state support for their studies. As a result, the number of students benefiting from state support grew by 62 % between 2012/2013 and 2013/2014.
Following the reform of the financial aid system for students (Loi concernant l’aide financière de l’Etat pour études supérieures, 2014) the base grant was reduced but complemented by a top- up subject to eligibility criteria and means testing. State support is available for all students regardless of the country they study in. Following the changes in the financing rules, the total amount of grants paid to students decreased by 41 % in 2014/2015 from the previous year. In parallel, the total amount students obtained in the form of loans to support their studies increased by 73 % between 2012/2013 and 2014/2015 (Government of Luxembourg 2016).
7.
Modernising vocational education and training and
promoting adult learning
In Luxembourg a larger share of students — 59.9 % in 2015 — participate in vocational education and training (VET) than the EU average of 48.9 %. Completion rates in VET are low, however: only 29 % of students complete their education in the expected time, against an OECD average of 64 %. Due to the high frequency of grade repetition in VET, completion rates within 2 years after the expected graduation time are much higher, at 64 %, but still below the OECD average of 79 % (OECD 2014, p. 73).
In upper-secondary vocational education, dual learning with work-based elements accounts for