2024
There have been no reforms so far.
2023
New draft law on parental assistance
The Government Council has approved a draft law to reform and strengthen the activity of parental assistance. The aim is to improve the quality of care provided by parental assistants and further promote this type of care. The main features addressed are as follows:
- Increase of hourly rate
- Single subsidy
- Language skills
- Level of qualification
- Provision in line with the national reference framework on non-formal education.
Restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic progressively lifted
The majority of the sanitary measures related to Covid-19 are revoked in Luxembourg. The isolation period has also been abolished as of 1 April 2023.
2022
Homework support
The new concept of homework help « Aide aux devoirs » has been introduced in schools, education and care facilities (relay houses, homes), and with parental assistants at the start of the 2022/23 school year.
Homework support is an important element in strengthening children and promoting social justice. The staff assists the child and helps him/her to organise his/her work in an environment conducive to learning.
Educators record any difficulties encountered in the digital class diary - a means of facilitating exchange between teachers, educators, parents and the child. This is especially important for children whose parents are not always able to provide the necessary support (e.g. due to language barriers).
From September onwards, the staff responsible for homework support will take part in further training (organised by the Institut de formation de l'Éducation nationale) so that they have the necessary skills by September 2024 at the latest.
Pilot project – French literacy in primary education
Since the start of the 2022/23 school year, the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth has launched the French literacy pilot project in four basic municipal schools, which offers pupils the possibility for literacy in French (modified grand-ducal regulation of 8 July 2022).
Although Luxembourg's educational system is multilingual, this project, which is part of the policy of diversifying school offer, aims to better meet the needs of pupils in terms of linguistic, cultural and social diversity.
Interviews with teachers in cycle 1 provide parents with the information they need to choose the language of literacy according to the child's skills and needs. For children literate in French, German is immediately introduced as an oral language.
To avoid discrepancies in the mastery of French and German, the literacy programmes are identical. It is simply a matter of reversing the role of the French and German languages in relation to the German literacy classes. The aim is to ensure that pupils have the necessary competences in both languages to access secondary school in Luxembourg.
Free public music education
In its coalition agreement 2018-2023, the government provides for part of the lessons to be free of charge for pupils in music education to prevent education from becoming a privilege reserved for children whose parents have the necessary financial means.
The 1998 law on the harmonisation of music education in the municipal sector has been revised and replaced by the law of 27 May 2022 to strengthen the role of music education so that children and young people can develop and cultivate knowledge in the fields of music, dance and the performing arts.
At the start of the 2022/23 school year, almost two thirds of the music, speech and dance classes offered have been free. For courses not free of charge, fees are limited to 100 € per branch and school year, which also applies to adult learners. This limitation reduces existing imbalance in fees between municipalities and guarantees equal access to music education. Families with low incomes are reimbursed the full amount of the minimum fee (before the reform, only part of the fee was reimbursed). For families whose income exceeds the fixed limit, the law provides for a partial reimbursement for children aged 14 to 18.
The present reform has also addressed the modalities of state funding. The annual financial participation of the State has been increased by more than 50% and will evolve annually according to the number of pupils and teaching time allocated in the music schools.
Free access to non-formal education
In July 2022, the law on free non-formal education was adopted in the Chamber of Deputies. This law was an important milestone on the way to strengthening the Luxembourg social and educational model.
Non-formal education (relay houses, day care centres, mini-crèches and parental assistants) complements formal education in schools and enables children to further develop essential skills: social relations, language, active participation, creativity, motor skills and technical skills.
As of the start of the 2022/23 school year, non-formal education has been free for children in primary education, regardless of the facility. The free care only applies during school weeks (Monday to Friday, from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm) - outside these periods, the system of ECEC service vouchers (see Eurydice article 3.1. - Early childhood and school education funding) applies.
In the interests of equal opportunities, every child is entitled to a free lunch during school weeks, regardless of parental income. This social measure has also come into force at the start of the 2022/23 school year.
2021
Health measures in relation to Covid-19
As part of the health measures, it has been decided that from 10 January 2022 onwards, it will be compulsory to wear a mask for school, extracurricular and school-related activities that take place in enclosed spaces. This applied to all educational staff and pupils from cycle 2 of primary education. They also complied with the return of the quarantine (law of 24 December 2021).
Adaptation of measures in schools and education and care services to maintain face-to-face teaching:
- Positive antigen test in school automatically leads to isolation of the positive tested person
- Implementation of enhanced testing for one week
- Quarantine of unvaccinated and unrecovered students not participating in the enhanced testing
- Reduction of isolation time for vaccinated persons
- Quarantines and distance learning
- Validity of school-based antigen tests
- Strengthening the testing system
- Generalized use of masks
- Booster vaccination for pupils aged 12 to 18.