Education Minister Presents OECD Findings on Early Childhood Education, Care in Luxembourg

On Thursday 24 February 2022, Luxembourg's Minister of National Education, Children and Youth, Claude Meisch, and the director of the Directorate for Education and Skills of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), Andreas Schleicher, presented an OECD report analysing early childhood education and care policy in Luxembourg.

Aims of early childhood education and care: equal opportunities and stimulation of children's development

The mission of education policy is to ensure that each child has the same chances of succeeding in school, regardless of socio-economic background, mother tongue and migration profile. Early childhood education and care plays an important role in this context.

Scientific studies show that children learn very intuitively: they are curious, eager to learn and learn willingly and quickly. For this reason, it is important to offer them an environment that allows them to have many experiences from an early age, that stimulates them and is favorable to their development. To this end, two important laws were passed in 2016 and 2017 with the aim of improving the quality of non-formal education and promoting plurilingual education in the field of early childhood.

An ambitious programme in Luxembourg

Overall, the OECD analysis concludes that Luxembourg pursues an ambitious policy agenda with regard to early childhood education and care. In recent years, the government has undertaken major reforms to guarantee access to non-formal education for all children and to improve the quality of childcare facilities. The Youth Act of 24 April 2016 has improved the quality of the educational offer of education and reception services. The law on plurilingual education, passed on 11 July 2017, introduced partial free childcare for children aged 1 to 4, linked to the offer of a plurilingual education programme for this group of children. age. Luxembourg has, internationally, one of the most affordable early childhood education and care systems, with free or even subsidised access depending on the socio-economic situation of the family.

There was a political will to take an outside look at this new system. It is in this sense that the Ministry decided in 2019 to participate in an OECD project which focuses on the analysis of quality assurance in the field of early childhood education and care. Two aspects are at the heart of this analysis: the monitoring of quality in the early childhood education and care sector (quality development and quality assurance) and the development of human resources in the sector (workforce development).

Main findings of the report

• The Ministry of National Education, Childhood and Youth: a single competent ministry for formal and non-formal education

"Strengthen co-ordination across departments within the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth".

A strength of the Luxembourg system lies in the fact that formal and non-formal education are under the jurisdiction of a single Ministry. The study plans for the two sectors were thus able to be agreed and complementary framework plans were designed.

The merger of the two sectors in 2013 was a strong signal, in that the non-formal education sector is now an integral part of the education system. In this, it is no longer perceived as being solely a support for families in reconciling their family and professional life. This grouping facilitates children's transitions between formal and non-formal education and allows greater coherence between the two sectors. The report emphasises that the strengthening of coordination between the ministerial departments in charge is in constant progress.

• Reform of early childhood education and care funding

"Investigate the costs of providing high-quality ECEC (early childhood education and care) and ensure investments are allocated efficiently across different types of ECEC provision, particularly in the non-formal sector between contracted and non-contracted settings".

The Ministry of National Education, Children and Youth is currently working on a reform of state funding of non-formal education structures. As planned by the government programme, an analysis of the system in place is carried out in order to replace it with a simpler mode of financing. The new system will have to ensure that this subsidy benefits parents and that, ultimately, it guarantees that public funding is invested in the quality of early childhood education and care.

• Organisation of the basis for professional development in the non-formal sector

"Explore the possibility of developing ECEC-specific initial education programmes that provide qualifications at various levels of education".

The OECD report identifies the qualification of personnel as an element to be optimised. The introduction of a specialisation in the initial training of educators is an appropriate path in this context.

Another important step in improving the qualification of reception structure staff is the introduction of the new free continuing education system in the professional support of reception structure staff in 2022. Each employee in the contracted sector or non-agreed sector is entitled to 24 hours of continuing education per year, which are fully funded by the Ministry. In the coming months, the Ministry will organise the foundations for professional development in the non-formal sector. The objective is to discuss professional profiles in early childhood education with all the actors and thus adapt the initial training of educators to the needs in the field.

• New distribution of roles in terms of quality assurance and development in the field of early childhood education and care

"Engage ECEC staff, parents and children in monitoring visits to broaden and deepen knowledge of process quality".
"Develop systematic observations of staff interactions with children as well as children's interactions with one another, and introduce observational monitoring tools to assess process quality".

The OECD points out in its report that the regional officers, recruited as part of the introduction of the quality assurance system in the field of non-formal education for children and young people in 2018, play an essential role in the area of ​​knowledge development, quality processes and better management of the non-formal sector. As part of quality monitoring, the regional agents rely on their interviews with the managers and on the documentation of these interviews. In order to achieve greater efficiency in this area, the OECD proposes to observe the work with children in the field as well as to include the perspective of staff, parents and children.

In order to achieve the best possible quality in the field of early childhood education and care, the Ministry will follow the recommendations issued by the OECD. The Ministry also aims to further develop collaboration with parents by asking for their opinions and feedback in order to include them in the development of future policies.

The regional agents will focus on quality development (in the pedagogical field) and will play a training and support role. The control and, if necessary, the sanction belong to the ministerial departments alone. The separation between the roles of regional officers and the roles of corporate services is thus clearer.