Responsible ministries

The two ministries bearing the main responsibility for Luxembourg’s education system are:

1. The Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (MENJE; ministère de l’Éducation nationale, de l'Enfance et de la Jeunesse), responsible for the planning and management of school education; for structures providing non-formal extracurricular education and care; for a large part of provision and support schemes in adult education
2. The Ministry of Research and Higher Education (MESR; ministère de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement supérieur), in charge of higher education.

In some fields of education, governance is ensured by other authorities:

• The Ministry of Family Affairs, Solidarity, Living Together and Reception of Refugees (MF; ministère de la Famille, des Solidarités, du Vivre ensemble et de l'Accueil) is in charge of offers for senior citizens and of educational measures relating to the integration of foreign adult citizens
• Measures and training programmes addressed to unemployed persons are implemented jointly by the Ministry of Labour (MT; ministère du Travail) through its Agency for the development of employment (ADEM; Agence pour le développement de l'emploi) and the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth
• Municipalities play an important role for elementary education: whereas teachers are appointed by the State, in accordance with the 2009 reform of elementary education, municipalities are competent for the organisation of elementary schools, the approval of school success schemes, the evaluation at schools and for designing the extracurricular education scheme (PEP; plan d'encadrement périscolaire). Moreover, the municipalities have to provide infrastructure and educational facilities to elementary schooling.

Organisation of the ministry of Education

In Luxembourg, the general objectives of public education, the basic curricula, certificates and diplomas, access to studies, statutes and the administration of school staff are centrally managed. MENJE's main mission consists in designing and organising Luxembourg's national educational programmes, except for the field of higher education.

A detailed list of ministries' attributions has been defined by the grand-ducal decision of 1 July 2023 on the constitution of ministries (arrêté grand-ducal du 1 juillet 2023 portant approbation du règlement interne du Gouvernement).

The priorities of national education policy are set out in the current government programme (accord de coalition).

The Ministry of Education, Children and Youth (MENJE) is subdivided into different services, some of which having been created by law and others established for the needs of internal organisation.

The following services are responsible for the different levels of education:

• Service for Childhood education and care (Service de l'éducation et accueil de l'enfance)
• Service for primary education (Service de l'enseignement fondamental)
• Service for secondary education (Service de l'enseignement secondaire classique et secondaire général)
• Service for vocational training (Service de la formation professionnelle)
• Service for adult education (Service de la formation des adultes).

Other services are in charge of specific transversal aspects of education, such as:

• Recognition of diplomas (Service de la reconnaissance des diplômes)
• Special education (Service de l'éducation différenciée)
• Schooling of foreign children (Service de la scolarisation des enfants étrangers)
• School staff (Service du personnel des écoles)
• Statistics and analysis (Service des statistiques et analyses)
• Legal aspects (Service juridique)
• Financial aspects (Service financier)
• Equipment and infrastructure (Service des infrastructures et équipements scolaires)
• Research and innovation (SCRIPT - Service de Coordination de la Recherche et de l'Innovation pédagogiques et technologiques).

Additionally, several bodies with different legal status are mandated with special missions:

• Coordination of school projects (Centre de coordination des projets d'établissement)
• Educational psychology and guidance (CePAS - Centre psycho-social et d'accompagnement scolaires)
• Technologies for education (Centre de gestion informatique de l'éducation).