Page 76 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 76
ear ly school leaving: contempor ary european perspectives
Recent relevant reforms
Luxembourg has been engaged in the process of comprehensively trans-
forming its national education system. The core idea is to make the educa-
tion system fit better with today’s society and to better equip each student to
help them succeed in educational vocational and personal life. Reforms are
prepared and implemented at all levels of education: reform of VET (2008;
for details, see Cedefop, 2015), reform of elementary education (école fon-
damentale, which includes pre-primary and primary schools, 2009; for the
first evaluation, see reports prepared by Université du Luxembourg, 2012
and Koenig, 2013) and the preparatory work for a secondary school reform.
The reform of secondary schools was being prepared in 2013 (European
Commission, 2013a) and remains at an early stage (European Commission,
2016a). The reforms share some common features: a competence-based ap-
proach, early identification of educational difficulties, identification of fac-
tors causing educational failure, emphasis on educational and vocational
guidance, the cooperation of all stakeholders (Eurydice, n.d.) – namely, at-
tributes also relevant for tackling ESL.
ESL statistics in Luxembourg
Luxembourg uses both the Eurostat definition of ESLers and a national
definition. In national statistics, ESLers are defined as secondary school stu-
dents of 16 to 24 years who have, during a given school year, left school and
did not return before November 15 of the following school year (European
Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). The Eurostat and national
statistics on ESL are presented below.
Luxembourg already had relatively low ESL rates at the start of 2000
compared to other EU member states, but still made considerable progress
up to 2009 (European Commission, 2011). Since then, slight fluctuations
can be observed which to some extent might also be attributed to the small
sample size (European Commission, 2016b); the ESL rate stayed below the
European headline target of 10% throughout this period, but attention to
the trend in the future is needed. According to the Eurostat (n.d./a) data,
Luxemburg’s ESL rate was 7.7% in 2009, 6.1% in 2013, 9.3% in 2015, 5.5% in
2016 (also see Figure 4). The figures on ESL collected at the national level
via a centralised digital system by following individual students are usu-
ally higher than the figures provided by Eurostat (e.g. see National reform
programme, 2016). Moreover, the national data show a steady increase in
ESL rates since 2008 from 9.0% to 13.5% in 2014/15; the rise is attributed
76
Recent relevant reforms
Luxembourg has been engaged in the process of comprehensively trans-
forming its national education system. The core idea is to make the educa-
tion system fit better with today’s society and to better equip each student to
help them succeed in educational vocational and personal life. Reforms are
prepared and implemented at all levels of education: reform of VET (2008;
for details, see Cedefop, 2015), reform of elementary education (école fon-
damentale, which includes pre-primary and primary schools, 2009; for the
first evaluation, see reports prepared by Université du Luxembourg, 2012
and Koenig, 2013) and the preparatory work for a secondary school reform.
The reform of secondary schools was being prepared in 2013 (European
Commission, 2013a) and remains at an early stage (European Commission,
2016a). The reforms share some common features: a competence-based ap-
proach, early identification of educational difficulties, identification of fac-
tors causing educational failure, emphasis on educational and vocational
guidance, the cooperation of all stakeholders (Eurydice, n.d.) – namely, at-
tributes also relevant for tackling ESL.
ESL statistics in Luxembourg
Luxembourg uses both the Eurostat definition of ESLers and a national
definition. In national statistics, ESLers are defined as secondary school stu-
dents of 16 to 24 years who have, during a given school year, left school and
did not return before November 15 of the following school year (European
Commission/EACEA/Eurydice/Cedefop, 2014). The Eurostat and national
statistics on ESL are presented below.
Luxembourg already had relatively low ESL rates at the start of 2000
compared to other EU member states, but still made considerable progress
up to 2009 (European Commission, 2011). Since then, slight fluctuations
can be observed which to some extent might also be attributed to the small
sample size (European Commission, 2016b); the ESL rate stayed below the
European headline target of 10% throughout this period, but attention to
the trend in the future is needed. According to the Eurostat (n.d./a) data,
Luxemburg’s ESL rate was 7.7% in 2009, 6.1% in 2013, 9.3% in 2015, 5.5% in
2016 (also see Figure 4). The figures on ESL collected at the national level
via a centralised digital system by following individual students are usu-
ally higher than the figures provided by Eurostat (e.g. see National reform
programme, 2016). Moreover, the national data show a steady increase in
ESL rates since 2008 from 9.0% to 13.5% in 2014/15; the rise is attributed
76
