Dealing with Diversity in Luxembourg

In VET, specific classes are organised where all courses are held in French for learners who don’t have sufficient language skills in German or Luxembourgish. In the lower cycle of general and technical secondary education, specific language classes are organised for immigrants with the aim to integrate them into the regular classes of the Luxembourgish education system.

The multilingual setting of Luxembourg’s education system is one of the biggest obstacles for the integration of immigrants. To tackle this issue, the MENJE organises specific classes in VET where all courses are held in French (RLS classes - classes à régime linguistique spécifique). These classes are addressed to those who do not have sufficient language skills in German or Luxembourgish. In the last years, the number of VET programmes offered as RLS classes has been constantly increasing.

Insertion classes in the lower cycle (classes 7, 8, and 9) of technical secondary education have been created for students who have acquired a good grade in their country of origin, but with little or no knowledge of the instruction languages in Luxembourg. They receive intensive courses in French or German (determined according to their language skill gaps).

Students arriving in the country with no language skills in German or French are placed in so called “welcome classes”. They follow intensive courses in French and introductory courses in Luxembourgish. The student’s skills are assessed by the class council, whodecides upon the right time for him/her to integrate either a regular class of technical secondary education, an insertion class of the lower cycle or a specific language class of the medium cycle.

The National School for Adults (École Nationale des Adultes – ENAD) was set up in 2011 and is mainly addressed at early school leavers. It offers the first year of a certain number of VET programmes, organised as full-time school tracks with the aim to reintegrate the learner into a regular class in a technical secondary school and an apprenticeship contract with a company. The National School for Adultshas a specific pedagogical approach where learners are closely accompanied and supervised by tutors. Those classes are usually smaller in size.

Since 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the programme “Fit fir d’Léier” (ready for apprenticeship) was introduced at the National Training Centres (CNFPC). It offers a one-year upskilling course for learners who could not find a training company, in order to foster their competences and enable them to enter the first year of apprenticeship in the following year.