The ministry of Education, Children and Youth has announced early April that from the start of the new school year by September 2021 new opportunities will be opened in initial vocational training. This means that several courses will be updated, the offer will be expanded and there will be a linguistic diversification of the courses.
The development of the educational offer is a key action lever in Luxembourg's national education policy. It is based on the needs expressed by the economic world as well as on the variety of students' profiles.
The new offers include new professional outlooks:
For more details and information:
The general measures taken by the government in the education sector (see subchapter 14.2) to curb the Covid-19 pandemic also concern vocational education and training (VET) establishments.
Moreover, a financial support for apprenticeships was decided on 18 August 2020 in order to motivate enterprises to keep their apprentices and/or conclude new apprenticeship contracts in spite of the economic difficulties entailed by the crisis.
The aim of this measure is to support professional learning in companies such as to meet future needs of skilled workforce.
The financial support may be awarded in the form of a single lump sum between € 1 500 and € 5 000 per contract, depending on criteria such as the number of apprenticeship contracts in the company, the circumstances in which they were concluded, etc.
More details on amounts, eligibility conditions and obtention procedure, are included in the press release (PDF) from the Education ministry's VET department.
With the law of 12 July 2019 (loi du 12 juillet 2019), several ad hoc adaptations have been made to the system of vocational education and training. These changes have been elaborated in close cooperation with the professional chambers.
Apprenticeship contract and internship agreement are now included in the Labour Code. As a result, the legal certainty of apprenticeships has been improved. The Labour Code also specifies the content and duration of the apprenticeship contract. Furthermore, it defines the conditions allowing a professional to provide training for a trade.
The above-mentioned law also creates a legal basis for the VET steering group, whose mission it is to coordinate the development of vocational training and to validate the curricular work carried out within this framework.
The reform introduces the following changes in vocational education and training:
The reform aims at providing training and work opportunities for all learners at all levels of education.
The law will enter into force in two steps: in school year 2019/20, the first-year classes will be reformed, as well as the study year following the intermediate report; the other study years will follow as from school year 2020/21.
On 11 July 2018, the members of Parliament adopted the bill 7301 foreseeing an adult education structure's name change, from former 'Second chance school' (École de la 2e chance) to 'National school for adults' (École nationale pour adultes).
Ever since 2009, when the establishment was created as 'Second chance school', the training provision of this school has been adapting to the target population, and some 1 200 learners have since been offered tuition and training. Today, the School doesn't exclusively address people having left education and training prematurely while being over the age of compulsory schooling. On the contrary: training is being offered to all adults wishing to enlarge their competences in the framework of adult education. The designation 'second chance' thus doesn't correspond any more to the establishment's present-day objectives and provision.
The new name 'National school for adults' better suits today's ever-growing demand for lifelong learning provision, and corresponds to the Lifelong learning strategy adopted by the government.
The National school for adults represents a single structure where several learner profiles may come together, such as:
The above-mentioned bill also proposes to adapt the school's organic law with respect to the terminology instituted by the 29 August 2017 reform of secondary education, in particular concerning the names of 'classic', respectively 'general' secondary education.
The modifications foreseen by the bill will enter into force from the beginning of school year 2018/19.
From the beginning of school year 2018/19, adults who prematurely left the school system are offered an adapted pathway to qualification, which enables them to pursue a professional activity while preparing the DAES access diploma to higher education (DAES; diplôme d’accès aux études supérieures). This training programme 'en alternance' is organised in the form of evening classes at the School for second chance and at Athénée de Luxembourg. It complements the existing day classes of the Second chance school, introduced in 2016.
The DAES diploma is recognised as equivalent to the secondary school leaving diploma (diplôme de fin d’études secondaires), irrespective of the type of training, whether through day-time classes or 'en alternance'. As a consequence of this recognition, the DAES provides access to the regulated professions and occupations in the public sector, as well as access to higher education and university.
The study programme, learning format and timetables of the training 'en alternance' take account of the learners' professional constraints: part of the training is provided in class, another part comes online in the form of e-learning.
The 32 weekly lessons are distributed in three prongs:
Concerning the curriculum, the learner has to chose 6 modules pertaining to 4 study fields: languages, mathematics, natural sciences, human and social sciences, arts.
The Internet is an important feature of this training provision. An online platform ensures the provision of course materials and establishes distance communication with the teachers. This aspect facilitates the learners' autonomous work according to their availabilities.
DAES 'en alternance' training is available to people who are either under a work contract, or active in an occupation, or registered at the Employment agency (ADEM), or participating in a professional or qualification training programme, as well as people educating a child.
To qualify for registration, candidates have to fulfil one of the following preconditions:
For more information: